THE 
HOPE  OF  THE  WORLD 

Messages  and  Addresses  delivered 
by  the  President  between  July  10, 
1919  and  December  9,  1919 
Including  selections  from  his 
Country-wide  speeches  in  behalf 
of  the  Treaty  and  Covenant 

BY 

WOODROW  WILSON 


PRESIDENT    OF   THE    UNITED    STATES 


Harper   &   Brothers    Publishers 
New   York    and   London 


THE  HOPE  OF  THE  WORLD 

Printed  in  the  United  States  of  America 
Published,  May,  1920 


CONTENTS 


FOREWORD 

I.  THE  TREATY  AND  THE  COVENANT    "". 

II.  THE  HIGH  COST  OF  LIVING  .... 

III.  A  MEMORANDUM  UPON  SHANTUNG  .    . 

IV.  AN  INDUSTRIAL  TRUCE  NECESSARY    . 

V.  THE  REPLY  TO  THE  RAILWAY  SHOPMEN 

VI.  ECONOMY  THE  WATCHWORD  .... 

VII.  A  REPORT  TO  THE  PEOPLE     .... 

VIII.  A  DEFENSE  OF  ARTICLE  X    J"  .    .    . 

IX.  A  UNION  FOR  ARBITRATION  .... 

X.  A  PLEDGE  TO  BE  REDEEMED      .     .     . 

XI.  A  GREAT  HISTORICAL  DOCUMENT  .    . 

XII.  THE  WORLD  Is  WAITING  ON  Us     .     . 

XIII.  RESERVATIONS  MEAN  DELAY 

XIV.  A  TURNING-POINT  IN  HISTORY  . 

XV.  THE  FIRST  PEOPLE'S  TREATY 

XVI.  THE  TASK  ONLY  HALF  DONE 

XVII.  RESERVATIONS  NOT  NECESSARY 

XVIII.  UNDERWRITING  CIVILIZATION 

XIX.  ''NATIONS  MUST  UNITE" — LODGE     .    ,  ..<•" 

XX.  NEW  HOPE  FOR  CHINA 

XXI.  OUR  RIGHTS  SAFE  UNDER  THE  LEAGUE 

XXII.  Six  VOTES  TO  ONE       

XXIII.  VOTIV;  POWER  IN  THE  LEAGUE 


4!730t> 


CHAP. 

XXIV. 
XXV. 
XXVI. 
XXVII. 


CONTENTS 

MUST  COMPOSE  DIFFERENCES  . 
A  STATEMENT  TO  THE  MINERS  . 
THE  RED  CROSS  DRIVE  .  .  . 
A  MESSAGE  ON  ARMISTICE  DAY 


PAGE 

i  ;o 
1 


.     .     .     181 

XXVIII.  MESSAGE  TO  THE  CONGRESS       .     .     .     .  /"*  ig& 

XXIX.  A  FAIR  DEAL  TO  THE  MINERS  .....    205 


FOREWORD 

FOLLOWING  upon  the  earlier  volumes  in  the 
series  of  Mr.  Wilson's  messages  and  addresses 
(Why  We  Are  at  War,  In  Our  First  Year  of 
War,  Guarantees  oj  Peace,  International  Ideals, 
and  The  Triumph  of  Ideals'),  the  present  com 
pilation  contains  the  state  papers  of  President 
Wilson  from  July  10,  1919,  to  date,  together 
with  the  speeches  made  on  his  country-wide 
tour.  The  bulk  of  the  material  deals  with  the 
Treaty  of  Versailles  and  with  the  covenant  of 
the  League  of  Nations.  (Mr.  Wilson  believes 
that  he  has  a  good  case,  and  he  presents  the 
talking  points  of  his  argument  with  his  cus 
tomary  clearness  and  cogency.  Whether  or 
not  we  agree  with  him,  no  intelligent  and 
patriotic  American  can  afford  to  ignore  this 
exhaustive  presentation  upon  the  great  issues 
with  which  the  future  happiness  and  prosperity 
of  our  country  are  so  closely  associated.  It  is 
difficult  to  estimate  the  magnitude  of  the  task 
to  which  Mr.  Wilson  addressed  himself,  and 
under  whose  burden  he  finally  broke  down, 
without  considering  in  extenso  the  tremendous 


viii  FOREWORD 

bulk  of  his  public  utterances  on  the  subject. 
The  mere  statement  that  the  number  of 
separate  speeches  made  by  the  President,  on 
tour,  totals  thirty-seven  is  impressive  in  itself. 
As  the  subject-matter  in  these  addresses  is 
confined  to  the  Peace  Treaty  and  the  League 
of  Nations,  it  is  obvious  that  repetition  of  the 
principal  argument  is  inevitable.  A  selection, 
therefore,  has  been  made  from  the  mass  of 
material,  presenting  the  more  cogent  and  sig 
nificant  portions  of  Mr.  Wilson's  appeal  to  the 
public. 

The  important  state  papers  include  the 
address  to  the  Senate,  presenting  the  treaty. 
and  covenant ;  the  message  on  the  high  cost  of 
living,  delivered  at  a  joint  session  of  the  Con 
gress;  the  memorandum  upon  Shantung;  the 
statement  to  the  railway  shopmen ;  the  Labor 
Day  message;  the  letter  to  the  National  In 
dustrial  Conference;  the  appeal  to  the  coal 
miners;  and  the  message  to  the  new  Congress. 

The  messages  and  addresses  of  the  President 
being  the  common  property  of  the  people,  the 
customary  author's  royalties  are  paid  by  the 
publishers  to  the  American  Red  Cross. 


THE  HOPE  OF  THE  WORLD 


THE  HOPE  OF  THE  WORLD 


THE   TREATY  AND   THE   COVENANT 
(WASHINGTON,  July  10,  1919) 

President  Wilson,  in  presenting  the  Peace 
Treaty  and  the  League  of  Nations  to  the  Senate, 
spoke  as  jollows: 

GENTLEMEN  OF  THE  SENATE  :  The  treaty  of 
peace  with  Germany  was  signed  at  Versailles 
on  the  28th  of  June.  I  avail  myself  of  the. 
earliest  opportunity  to  lay  the  treaty  before 
you  for  ratification,  and  to  inform  you  with 
regard  to  the  work  of  the  Conference  by  which 
that  treaty  was  formulated. 

The  treaty  constitutes  nothing  less  than  a 
world  settlement.  It  would  not  be  possible 
for  me  either  to  summarize  or  to  construe  its 
manifold  provisions  in  an  address  which  must 
of  necessity  be  something  less  than  a  treatise. 
My  services  and  all  the  information  I  possess 
will  be  at  your  disposal  and  at  the  disposal  of 

your  Committee  on  Foreign  Relations  at  at. 

jt  in 


£:      i THE  HOPE  OF  THE  WORLD 

time,  either  informally  or  in  session,  as  you 
may  prefer,  and  I  hope  that  you  will  not  hesi 
tate  to  make  use  of  them.  I  shall  at  this 
time,  prior  to  your  own  study  of  the  document, 
attempt  only  a  general  characterization  of  its 
scope  and  purpose. 

In  one  sense,  no  doubt,  there  is  no  need  that 
I  should  report  to  you  what  was  attempted 
and  done  at  Paris.  You  have  been  daily  cog 
nizant  of  what  was  going  on  there — of  the 
problems  with  which  the  Peace  Conference  had 
to  deal  and  of  the  difficulty  of  laying  down 
straight  lines  of  settlement  anywhere  on  a  field 
on  which  the  old  lines  of  international  relation 
ship,  and  the  new  alike,  followed  so  intricate  a 
pattern  and  were  for  the  most  part  cut  so  deep 
by  historical  circumstances  which  dominated 
action  where  it  would  have  been  best  to  ignore 
or  reverse  them.  The  cross-currents  of  poli 
tics  and  of  interest  must  have  been  evident  to 
you. 

It  would  be  presuming  in  me  to  attempt  to 
explain  the  questions  which  arose  or  the  many 
diverse  elements  that  entered  into  them.  I 
shall  attempt  something  less  ambitious  than 
that  and  more  clearly  suggested  by  my  duty  to 
report  to  the  Congress  the  part  it  seemed  nec 
essary  for  my  colleagues  and  me  to  play  as 
the  representatives  of  the  government  of  the 
rrnited  States. 

part  was  dictated  by  the  role  America 


THE  TREATY  AND  THE  COVENANT  3 

had  played  in  the  war  and  by  the  expectations 
that  had  been  created  in  the  minds  of  the 
peoples  with  whom  we  had  associated  ourselves 
in  that  great  struggle. 

The  United  States  entered  the  war  upon  a 
different  footing  from  every  other  nation  ex 
cept  our  associates  on  this  side  the  sea.  We 
entered  it,  not  because  our  material  interests 
were  directly  threatened  or  because  any  special 
treaty  obligations  to  which  we  were  parties 
had  been  violated,  but  only  because  we  saw 
the  supremacy  and  even  the  validity  of  right 
everywhere  put  in  jeopardy  and  free  govern 
ment  likely  to  be  everywhere  imperiled  by  the 
intolerable  aggression  of  a  power  which  re 
spected  neither  right  nor  obligation,  and  whose 
very  system  of  government  flouted  the  rights 
of  the  citizen  as  against  the  autocratic  au 
thority  of  his  governors. 

And  in  the  settlements  of  the  peace  we  have 
sought  no  special  reparation  for  ourselves,  but 
only  the  restoration  of  right,  and  the  assurance 
of  liberty  everywhere  that  the  effects  of  the 
settlement  were  to  be  felt.  We  entered  the 
war  as  the  disinterested  champions  of  right, 
and  we  interested  ourselves  in  the  terms  of  the 
peace  in  no  other  capacity. 

The  hopes  of  the  nations  allied  against  the 
Central  Powers  were  at  a  very  low  ebb  when 
our  soldiers  began  to  pour  across  the  sea. 
There  was  everywhere  among  them,  except  in 


4          THE  HOPE  OP  THE  WORLD 

their  stoutest  spirits,  a  somber  foreboding  of 
disaster. 

The  war  ended  in  November,  eight  months 
ago,  but  you  have  only  to  recall  what  was 
feared  in  midsummer  last,  four  short  months 
before  the  armistice,  to  realize  what  it  was 
that  our  timely  aid  accomplished  alike  for 
their  morale  and  their  physical  safety.  That 
first  never-to-be-forgotten  action  at  Chateau- 
Thierry  had  already  taken  place.  Our  re 
doubtable  soldiers  and  marines  had  already 
closed  the  gap  the  enemy  had  succeeded  in 
opening  for  their  advance  upon  Paris — had  al 
ready  turned  the  tide  of  battle  back  toward 
the  frontiers  of  France  and  begun  the  rout 
that  was  to  save  Europe  and  the  world. 
Thereafter  the  Germans  were  to  be  always 
forced  back,  back,  were  never  to  thrust  suc 
cessfully  forward  again.  And  yet  there  was 
no  confident  hope. 

Anxious  men  and  women,  leading  spirits  of 
France,  attended  the  celebration  of  the  Fourth 
of  July  last  year  in  Paris  out  of  generous 
courtesy — with  no  heart  for  festivity,  little 
zest  for  hope.  But  they  came  away  with 
something  new  at  their  hearts.  They  have 
themselves  told  us  so.  The  mere  sight  of  our 
men — of  their  vigor,  of  the  confidence  that 
showed  itself  in  every  movement  of  their  stal 
wart  figures  and  every  turn  of  their  swinging 
march,  in  their  steady,  comprehending  eyes 


THE  TREATY  AND  THE  COVENANT  5 

and  easy  discipline,  in  the  indomitable  air 
that  added  spirit  to  everything  they  did — 
made  every  one  who  saw  them  that  memorable 
day  realize  that  something  had  happened  that 
was  much  more  than  a  mere  incident  in  the 
fighting,  something  very  different  from  the 
mere  arrival  of  fresh  troops. 

A  great  moral  force  had  flung  itself  into  the 
struggle.  The  fine  physical  force  of  those 
spirited  men  spoke  of  something  more  than 
bodily  vigor.  They  carried  the  great  ideals  of 
a  free  people  at  their  hearts  and  with  that 
vision  were  unconquerable.  Their  very  pres 
ence  brought  reassurance ;  their  fighting  made 
victory  certain. 

They  were  recognized  as  crusaders,  and  as 
their  thousands  swelled  into  millions  their 
strength  was  seen  to  mean  salvation.  And 
they  were  fit  men  to  carry  such  a  hope  and 
make  good  the  assurance  it  forecast.  Finer 
men  never  went  into  battle;  and  their  officers 
were  worthy  of  them. 

This  is  not  the  occasion  upon  which  to  utter 
a  eulogy  of  the  armies  America  sent  to  France, 
but  perhaps  since  I  am  speaking  of  their  mis 
sion  I  may  speak  also  of  the  pride  I  shared 
with  every  American  who  saw  or  dealt  with 
them  there.  They  were  the  sort  of  men  Amer 
ica  would  wish  to  be  represented  by,  the  sort 
of  men  every  American  would  wish  to  claim  as 
fellow-countrymen  and  comrades  in  a  great 


6          THE  HOPE  OF  THE  WORLD 

cause.  They  were  terrible  in  battle  and  gentle 
and  helpful  out  of  it,  remembering  the  mothen 
and  the  sisters,  the  wives  and  the  little  childrer 
at  home.  They  were  free  men  under  arms 
not  forgetting  their  ideals  of  duty  in  the  midsl 
of  tasks  of  violence.  I  am  proud  to  have  hac 
the  privilege  of  being  associated  with  them  anc 
of  calling  myself  their  leader. 

But  I  speak  now  of  what  they  meant  to  the 
men  by  whose  sides  they  fought  and  to  the 
vecple  with  whom  they  mingled  with  suet 
utter  simplicity,  as  friends  who  asked  only  tc 
be  of  service.  They  were  for  all  the  visible 
eiTibodiment  of  America.  What  they  die 
made  America  and  all  that  she  stood  for  a 
living  reality  in  the  thoughts  not  only  of  the 
people  of  France,  but  also  of  tens  of  millions 
of  men  and  women  throughout  all  the  toiling 
nations  of  a  world  standing  everywhere  in 
peril  of  its  freedom  and  of  the  loss  of  every 
thing  it  held  dear,  in  deadly  fear  that  its  bonds 
were  never  to  be  loosed,  its  hopes  forever  tc 
be  mocked  and  disappointed. 

And  the  compulsion  of  what  they  stood  foi 
was  upon  us  who  represented  America  at  the 
peace  table.  It  was  our  duty  to  see  to  it  that 
every  decision  we  took  part  in  contributed,  sc 
far  as  we  were  able  to  influence  it,  to  quiet  the 
fears  and  realize  the  hopes  of  the  peoples  whc 
had  been  living  in  that  shadow,  the  nations 
that  had  come  by  our  assistance  to  their  free- 


THE  TREATY  AND  THE  COVENANT  7 

dom.  It  was  our  duty  to  do  everything  that  it 
was  within  our  power  to  do  to  make  the  tri 
umph  of  freedom  and  of  right  a  lasting  triumph 
in  the  assurance  of  which  men  might  every 
where  live  without  fear. 

Old  entanglements  of  every  kind  stood  in 
the  way — promises  which  governments  had 
made  to  one  another  in  the  days  when  might 
and  right  were  confused  and  the  power  of  the 
victor  was  without  restraint.  Engagements 
which  contemplated  any  dispositions  of  terri 
tory,  any  extensions  of  sovereignty  that  might 
seem  to  be  to  the  interest  of  those  who  had  the 
power  to  insist  upon  them  had  been  entered 
into  without  thought  of  what  the  peoples  con 
cerned  might  wish  or  profit  by;  and  these 
could  not  always  be  honorably  brushed  aside. 

It  was  not  easy  to  graft  the  new  order  of 
ideas  on  the  old,  and  some  of  the  fruits  of  the 
grafting  may,  I  fear,  for  a  time  be  bitter. 
Butj  with  very  few  exceptions,  the  men  who 
sat  with  us  at  the  peace  table  desired  as  sin 
cerely  as  we  did  to  get  away  from  the  bad 
influences,  the  illegitimate  purposes,  the  de 
moralizing  ambitions,  the  international  coun 
sels  and  expedients  out  of  which  the  sinister 
designs  of  Germany  had  sprung  as  a  natural 
growth. 

[it  had  been  our  privilege  to  formulate  the 
principles  which  were  accepted  as  the  basis  of 
the  peace,  but  they  had  been  accepted,  not  be- 


8  THE  HOPE  OF  THE  WORLD 

cause  we  had  come  in  to  hasten  and  assure  the 
victory  and  insisted  upon  them,  but  because 
they  were  readily  acceded  to  as  the  principles 
to  which  honorable  and  enlightened  minds 
everywhere  had  been  bred.  They  spoke  the 
conscience  of  the  world  as  well  as  the  con 
science  of  America,  and  I  am  happy  to  pay  my 
tribute  of  respect  and  gratitude  to  the  able, 
forward-looking  men  with  whom  it  was  my 
privilege  to  co-operate  for  their  unfailing  spirit 
of  co-operation,  their  constant  effort  to  accom 
modate  the  interests  they  represented  to  the 
principles  we  were  all  agreed  upon. 

The  difficulties,  which  were  many,  lay  in  the 
circumstances,  not  often  in  the  men.  Almost 
without  exception  the  men  who  led  had  caught 
the  true  and  full  vision  of  the  problem  of  peace 
as  an  indivisible  whole,  a  problem  not  of  mere 
adjustments  of  interest,  but  of  justice  and 
right  action. 

The  atmosphere  in  which  the  Conference 
worked  seemed  created,  not  by  the  ambitions 
of  strong  government,  but  by  the  hopes  and 
aspirations  of  small  nations  and  of  peoples 
hitherto  under  bondage  to  the  power  that 
victory  had  shattered  and  destroyed. 

Two  great  empires  had  been  forced  into  po 
litical  bankruptcy,  and  we  were  the  receivers. 
Our  task  was  not  only  to  make  peace  with  the 
Central  Empires  and  remedy  the  wrongs  their 
armies  had  done.  The  Central  Empires  had 


THE  TREATY  AND  THE  COVENANT  9 

lived  in  open  violation  of  many  of  the  very 
rights  for  which  the  war  had  been  fought, 
dominating  alien  peoples  over  whom  they  had 
no  natural  right  to  rule,  enforcing,  not  obedi 
ence,  but  veritable  bondage;  exploiting  those 
who  were  weak  for  the  benefit  of  those  who 
were  masters  and  overlords  only  by  force  of 
arms.  There  could  be  no  peace  until  the 
whole  order  of  Central  Europe  was  set  right. 

That  meant  that  new  nations  were  to  be 
created — Poland,  Czecho-Slovakia,  Hungary 
itself.  No  part  of  ancient  Poland  had  ever  in 
any  true  sense  become  a  part  of  Germany,  or  of 
Austria,  or  of  Russia.  Bohemia  was  alien  in 
every  thought  and  hope  to  the  monarchy  of 
which  she  had  so  long  been  an  artificial  part; 
and  the  uneasy  partnership  between  Austria 
and  Hungary  had  been  one  rather  of  interest 
than  of  kinship  or  sympathy.  The  Slavs 
whom  Austria  had  chosen  to  force  into  her 
empire  on  the  south  were  kept  to  their  obedi 
ence  by  nothing  but  fear.  Their  hearts  were 
with  their  kinsmen  in  the  Balkans. 

These  were  all  arrangements  of  power,  not 
arrangements  of  natural  union  or  association. 
It  was  the  imperative  task  of  those  who 
would  make  peace  and  make  it  intelligently 
to  establish  a  new  order  which  would  rest 
upon  the  free  choice  of  peoples  rather  than 
upon  the  arbitrary  authority  of  Hapsburgs  or 
Hohenzollerns. 


io         THE  HOPE  OF  THE  WORLD 

More  than  that,  great  populations  bound  by 
sympathy  and  actual  kin  to  Rumania  were  also 
linked  against  their  will  to  the  conglomerate 
Austro-Hungarian  monarchy  or  to  other  alien 
sovereignties,  and  it  was  part  of  the  task  of 
peace  to  make  a  new  Rumania,  as  well  as  a 
new  Slavic  state  clustering  about  Serbia. 

And  no  natural  frontiers  could  be  found  to 
these  new  fields  of  adjustment  and  redemption. 
It  was  necessary  to  look  constantly  forward  to 
other  related  tasks.  The  German  colonies 
were  to  be  disposed  of.  They  had  not  been 
governed;  they  had  been  exploited  merely, 
without  thought  of  the  interest,  or  even  the 
ordinary  human  rights,  of  their  inhabitants. 

The  Turkish  Empire,  moreover,  had  fallen 
apart,  as  the  Austro-Hungarian  had.  It  had 
never  had  any  real  unity.  It  had  been  held 
together  only  by  pitiless,  inhuman  force.  Its 
peoples  cried  aloud  for  release,  for  succor  from 
unspeakable  distress,  for  all  that  the  new  day 
of  hope  seemed  at  last  to  bring  within  its 
dawn.  Peoples  hitherto  in  utter  darkness  were 
to  be  led  out  into  the  same  light  and  given  at 
last  a  helping  hand.  Undeveloped  peoples 
and  peoples  ready  for  recognition,  but  not  yet 
ready  to  assume  the  full  responsibilities  of 
statehood,  were  to  be  given  adequate  guaran 
ties  of  friendly  protection,  guidance,  and 
assistance. 

And  out  of  the  execution  of  these  great  en- 


THE  TREATY  AND  THE  COVENANT  u 

terprises  of  liberty  sprang  opportunities  to 
attempt  what  statesmen  had  never  found  the 
way  before  to  do;  an  opportunity  to  throw 
safeguards  about  the  rights  of  racial,  national, 
and  religious  minorities  by  solemn  interna 
tional  covenants;  an  opportunity  to  limit  and 
regulate  military  establishments  where  they 
were  most  likely  to  be  mischievous ;  an  oppor 
tunity  to  effect  a  complete  and  systematic  in 
ternationalization  of  waterways  and  railways, 
which  were  necessary  to  the  free  economic  life 
of  more  than  one  nation  and  to  clear  many  of 
the  normal  channels  of  commerce  of  unfair  ob 
structions  of  law  or  of  privilege  and  the  very 
welcome  opportunity  to  secure  for  larjor  the 
concerted  protection  of  definite  international 
pledges  of  principle  and  practice. 

These  were  not  tasks  which  the  Conference 
looked  about  it  to  find  and  went  out  of  its 
wiy  to  perform.  They  were  inseparable 
from  the  settlements  of  peace.  They  were 
thrust  upon  it  by  circumstances  which  could 
riot  be  overlooked.  The  war  had  created 
them. 

In  all  quarters  of  the  world  old-established 
relationships  had  been  disturbed  or  broken  and 
affairs  were  at  loose  ends,  needing  to  be  mended 
or  united  again,  but  could  not  be  made  what 
they  were  before.  They  had  to  be  set  right 
by  applying  some  uniform  principle  of  justice 
or  enlightened  expediency.  And  they  could 


12         THE  HOPE  OF  THE  WORLD 

not  be  adjusted  by  merely  prescribing  in  a 
treaty  what  should  be  done.  J 

New  states  were  to  be  set  up  which  could 
not  hope  to  live  through  their  first  period  of 
weakness  without  assured  support  by  the 
great  nations  that  had  consented  to  their  crea 
tion  and  won  for  them  their  independence. 
Ill-governed  colonies  could  not  be  put  in  the 
hands  of  governments  which  were  to  act  as 
trustees  for  their  people  and  not  as  their 
masters  if  there  was  to  be  no  common  au 
thority  among  the  nations  to  which  they 
were  to  be  responsible  in  the  execution  of 
their  trust. 

Future  international  conventions  with  re 
gard  to  the  control  of  waterways,  with  regard 
to  illicit  traffic  of  many  kinds,  in  arms  or  in 
deadly  drugs,  or  with  regard  to  the  adjustment 
of  many  varying  international  administrative 
arrangements,  could  not  be  assured,  if  the 
treaty  were  to  provide  no  permanent  common 
international  agency,  if  its  execution  in  such 
matters  was  to  be  left  to  the  slow  and  uncertain 
processes  of  co-operation  by  ordinary  methods 
of  negotiation. 

If  the  Peace  Conference  itself  was  to  be  the 
end  of  co-operative  authority  and  common 
counsel  among  the  governments  to  which  the 
world  was  looking  to  enforce  justice  and  give 
pledges  of  an  enduring  settlement,  regions 
like  the  Sarre  Basin  could  not  be  put  under  a 


THE  TREATY  AND  THE  COVENANT  13 

temporary  administrative  regime  which  did 
not  involve  a  transfer  of  political  sovereignty 
and  which  contemplated  a  final  determination 
of  its  political  connections  by  popular  vote  to 
be  taken  at  a  distant  date;  no  free  city  like 
Danzig  could  be  created  which  was,  under 
elaborate  international  guaranties,  to  accept 
exceptional  obligations  with  regard  to  the  use 
of  its  port  and  exceptional  relations  with  a 
state  of  which  it  was  not  to  form  a  part; 
properly  safeguarded  plebiscites  could  not  be 
provided  for  where  populations  were  at  some 
future  date  to  make  choice  what  sovereignty 
they  would  live  under ;  no  certain  and  uniform 
method  of  arbitration  could  be  secured  for  the 
settlement  of  anticipated  difficulties  of  final 
decision  with  regard  to  many  matters  dealt 
with  in  the  treaty  itself;  the  long-continued 
supervision  of  the  task  of  reparation  which 
Germany  was  to  undertake  to  complete  within 
the  next  generation  might  entirely  break  down ; 
the  reconsideration  and  revision  of  adminis 
trative  arrangements  and  restrictions  which 
the  treaty  prescribed,  but  which  it  was  recog 
nized  might  not  prove  of  lasting  advantage  or 
entirely  fair  if  too  long  enforced,  would  be 
impracticable. 

The  promises  governments  were  making  to 
one  another  about  the  way  in  which  labor  was 
to  be  dealt  with,  by  law  not  only,  but  in  fact 
as  well,  would  remain  a  mere  humane  thesis  if 


i4          HIE  HOPE  OF  THE  WORLD 

there  was  to  be  no  common  tribunal  of  opinion 
and  judgment  to  which  liberal  statesmen 
could  resort  for  the  influences  which  alone 
might  secure  their  redemption. 

A  league  of  free  nations  had  become  a  prac 
tical  necessity.  Examine  the  treaty  of  peace 
and  you  will  find  that  everywhere  throughout 
its  manifold  provisions  its  framers  have  felt 
obliged  to  turn  to  the  League  of  Nations  as  an 
indispensable  instrumentality  for  the  main 
tenance  of  the  new  order  it  has  been  their  pur 
pose  to  set  up  in  the  world — the  world  of 
civilized  men. 

That  there  should  be  a  league  of  nations 
to  steady  the  counsels  and  maintain  the 
peaceful  understandings  of  the  world,  to  make, 
not  treaties  alone,  but  the  accepted  principles 
of  international  law  as  well,  the  actual  rule  of 
conduct  among  the  governments  of  the  world, 
had  been  one  of  the  agreements  accepted  from 
the  first  as  the  basis  of  peace  with  the  Central 
Powers. 

The  statesmen  of  all  the  belligerent  countries 
were  agreed  that  such  a  league  must  be  created 
to  sustain  the  settlements  that  were  to  be 
effected.  But  at  first  I  think  there  was  a  feel 
ing  among  some  of  them  that,  while  it  must  be 
attempted,  the  formation  of  such  a  league  was 
perhaps  a  counsel  of  perfection,  which  practical 
men,  long  experienced  in  the  world  of  affairs, 
must  agree  to  very  cautiously  and  with  many 


THE  TREATY  AND  THE  COVENANT  15 

misgivings.  It  was  only  as  the  difficult  work 
of  arranging  an  all  but  universal  adjustment  of 
the  world's  affairs  advanced  from  day  to  day 
from  one  stage  of  conference  to  another  that 
it  became  evident  to  them  that  what  they  were 
seeking  would  be  little  more  than  something 
written  upon  paper,  to  be  interpreted  and  ap 
plied  by  such  methods  as  the  chances  of  poli 
tics  might  make  available,  if  they  did  not  pro 
vide  a  means  of  common  counsel  which  all 
were  obliged  to  accept,  a  common  authority 
whose  decisions  would  be  recognized  as  de 
cisions  which  all  must  respect. 

And  so  the  most  practical,  the  most  skeptical 
among  them  turned  more  and  more  to  the 
League  as  the  authority  through  which  inter 
national  action  was  to  be  secured,  the  authority 
without  which,  as  they  had  come  to  see  it,  it 
would  be  difficult  to  give  assured  effect  either 
to  this  treaty  or  to  any  other  international 
understanding  upon  which  they  were  to  depend 
for  the  maintenance  of  peace. 

The  fact  that  the  covenant  of  the  League 
was  the  first  substantive  part  of  the  treaty  to 
be  worked  out  and  agreed  upon,  while  all  else 
was  in  solution,  helped  to  make  the  formulation 
of  the  rest  easier.  The  Conference  was,  after 
all,  not  to  be  ephemeral.  The  concert  of  na 
tions  was  to  continue,  under  a  definite  cove 
nant  which  had  been  agreed  upon  and  which  all 
were  convinced  was  workable.  They  could 


16        THE  HOPE  OF  THE  WORLD 

go  forward  with  confidence  to  make  arrange 
ments  intended  to  be  permanent. 

The  most  practical  of  the  conferees  were  at 
last  the  most  ready  to  refer  to  the  League  of 
Nations  the  superintendence  of  all  interests 
which  did  not  admit  of  immediate  determina 
tion,  of  all  administrative  problems  which 
were  to  require  a  continuing  oversight.  What 
had  seemed  a  counsel  of  perfection  had  come 
to  seem  a  plain  counsel  of  necessity.  The 
League  of  Nations  was  the  practical  states 
man's  hope  of  success  in  many  of  the  most 
difficult  things  he  was  attempting. 

And  it  had  validated  itself  in  the  thought  of 
every  member  of  the  Conference  as  something 
much  bigger,  much  greater  every  way,  than  a 
mere  instrument  of  carrying  out  the  provisions 
of  a  particular  treaty.  It  was  universally 
recognized  that  all  the  peoples  of  the  world 
demanded  of  the  Conference  that  it  should 
create  such  a  continuing  concert  of  free  na 
tions  as  would  make  wars  of  aggression  and 
spoliation  such  as  this  that  has  just  ended 
forever  impossible.  A  cry  had  gone  out 
from  every  home  in  every  stricken  land  from 
which  sons  and  brothers  and  fathers  had 
gone  forth  to  the  great  sacrifice  that  such 
a  sacrifice  should  never  again  be  exacted. 
It  was  manifest  why  it  had  been  exacted. 
It  had  been  exacted  because  one  nation  de 
sired  dominion  and  other  nations  had  known 


THE  TREATY  AND  THE  COVENANT  17 

no  means  of  defense  except  armaments  and 
alliances. 

War  had  lain  at  the-  heart  of  every  arrange 
ment  of  the  Europe — of  every  arrangement  of 
the  world — that  preceded  the  war.  Restive 
peoples  had  been  told  that  fleets  and  armies, 
which  they  toiled  to  sustain,  meant  peace; 
and  they  now  knew  that  they  had  been  lied  to ; 
that  fleets  and  armies  had  been  maintained  to 
promote  national  ambitions  and  meant  war. 
They  knew  that  no  old  policy  meant  any 
thing  else  but  force,  force — always  force. 
And  they  knewr  that  it  was  intolerable. 

Every  true  heart  in  the  world  and  every 
enlightened  judgment  demanded  that,  at 
whatever  cost  of  independent  action,  every 
government  that  took  thought  for  its  people 
or  for  justice  or  for  ordered  freedom  should 
lend  itself  to  a  new  purpose  and  utterly  destroy 
the  old  order  of  international  politics 

Statesmen  might  see  difficulties,  but  the 
people  could  see  none  and  could  brook  no 
denial.  A  war  in  which  they  had  been  bled 
white  to  beat  the  terror  that  lay  concealed  in 
every  balance  of  power  must  not  end  in  a  mere 
victory  of  arms  and  a  new  balance.  The  mon 
ster  that  had  resorted  to  arms  must  be  put  in 
chains  that  could  not  be  broken.  The  united 
power  of  free  nations  must  put  a  stop  to  ag 
gression  and  the  world  must  be  given  peace. 
If  there  was  not  the  will  or  the  intelligence  to 


1 8         THE  HOPE  OF  THE  WORLD 

accomplish  that  now,  there  must  be  another 
and  a  final  war  and  the  world  must  be  swept 
clean  of  every  power  that  could  renew  the 
terror. 

The  League  of  Nations  was  not  merely  an 

instrument  to  adjust  and  remedy  old  wrongs 

under  a  new  treaty  of  peace;   it  was  the  only 

_  hope  for  mankind.     Again  and  again  had  the 

demon  of  war  been  cast  out  of  the  house  of  the 

peoples  and  the  house  swept  clean  by  a  treaty 

of  peace,  only  to  prepare  a  time  when  he  would 

enter  in  again  with  spirits  worse  than  himself. 

The  house  must  now  be  given  a  tenant  who 

eould  hold  it  against  all  such. 

/     Convenient,  indeed  indispensable,  as  states- 

/  men  found  the  newly  planned  League  of  Na- 

/  tions  to  be  for  the  execution  of  present  plans 

/    of  peace  and  reparation,  they  saw  it  in  a  new 

I     aspect  before  their  work  was  finished.     They 

\    saw  it  as  the  main  object  of  the  peace,  as  the 

only  thing  that  could  complete  or  make  it 

\  worth  while.     They  saw  it  as  the  hope  of  the 

^world,  and  that  hope  they  did  not  dare  to 

disappoint. 

Shall  we  or  any  other  free  people  hesitate  to 
accept  this  great  duty?  Dare  we  reject  it  and 
break  the  heart  of  the  world  ? 

And  so  the  result  of  the  conference  of  peace, 
so  far  as  Germany  is  concerned,  stands  com 
plete.  The  difficulties  encountered  were  very 
many.  Sometimes  they  seemed  insuperable. 


THE  TREATY  AND  THE  COVENANT  19 

It  was  impossible  to  accommodate  the  in 
terests  of  so  great  a  body  of  nations — interests 
which  directly  or  indirectly  affected  almost 
every  nation  in  the  world — without  many 
minor  compromises. 

The  treaty,  as  a  result,  is  not  exactly  what 
we  would  have  written.  It  is  probably  not 
what  any  one  of  the  national  delegations  would 
have  written.  But  results  were  worked  out 
which  on  the  whole  bear  test.  I  think  that  it 
will  be  found  that  the  compromises,  which  were 
accepted  as  inevitable,  nowhere  cut  to  the 
heart  of  any  principle.  The  work  of  the  Con 
ference  squares,  as  a  whole,  with  the  prin 
ciples  agreed  upon  as  the  basis  of  the  peace  as 
well  as  with  the  practical  possibilities  of  the 
international  situations  which  had  to  be  faced 
and  dealt  with  as  facts. 

I  shall  presently  have  occasion  to  lay  before 
you  a  special  treaty  with  France,  whose  object 
is  the  temporary  protection  of  France  from 
unprovoked  aggression  by  the  power  with 
whom  this  treaty  of  peace  has  been  negotiated. 
Its  terms  link  it  with  this  treaty.  I  take  the 
liberty,  however,  of  reserving  it  for  special 
explication  on  another  occasion. 

The  role  which  America  was  to  play  in  the 
Conference  seemed  determined,  as  I  have  said, 
before  my  colleagues  and  I  got  to  Paris — de 
termined  by  the  universal  expectations  of  the 

nations  whose  representatives,  drawn  from  ali 
3 


20        THE  HOPE  OF  THE  WORLD 

quarters  of  the  globe,  we  were  to  deal  with. 
It  was  universally  recognized  that  America 
had  entered  the  war  to  promote  no  private  or 
peculiar  interest  of  her  own,  but  only  as  the 
champion  of  rights  which  she  was  glad  to 
share  with  free  men  and  lovers  of  justice 
everywhere. 

We  had  formulated  the  principles  upon 
which  the  settlement  was  to  be  made — the 
principles  upon  which  the  armistice  had  been 
agreed  to  and  the  parleys  of  peace  undertaken 
— and  no  one  doubted  that  our  desire  was  to  see 
the  treaty  of  peace  formulated  along  the  actual 
lines  of  those  principles — and  desired  nothing 
else.  We  were  welcomed  as  disinterested 
friends.  We  were  resorted  to  as  arbiters  in 
many  a  difficult  matter. 

It  was  recognized  that  our  material  aid 
would  be  indispensable  in  the  days  to  come, 
when  industry  and  credit  would  have  to  be 
brought  back  to  their  normal  operation  again 
and  communities  beaten  to  the  ground  assisted 
to  their  feet  once  more,  and  it  was  taken  for 
granted,  I  am  proud  to  say,  that  we  would 
play  the  helpful  friend  in  these  things  as  in  all 
others  without  prejudice  or  favor.  We  were 
generously  accepted  as  the  unaffected  cham 
pions  of  what  was  right. 

It  was  a  very  responsible  r61e  to  play ;  but  I 
am  happy  to  report  that  the  fine  group  of 
Americans  who  helped  with  their  expert  ad- 


THE  TREATY  AND  THE  COVENANT  21 

vice  in  each  part  of  the  varied  settlements 
sought  in  every  transaction  to  justify  the  high 
confidence  reposed  in  them. 

And  that  confidence,  it  seems  to  me,  is  the 
measure  of  our  opportunity  and  of  our  duty 
in  the  days  to  come,  in  which  the  new  hope  of 
the  peoples  of  the  world  is  to  be  fulfilled  or 
disappointed.  The  fact  that  America  is  the 
friend  of  the  nations,  whether  they  be  rivals  or 
associates,  is  no  new  fact;  it  is  only  the  dis 
covery  of  it  by  the  rest  of  the  world  that 
is  new. 

America  may  be  said  to  have  just  reached 
her  majority  as  a  world  power.  It  was  almost 
exactly  twenty-one  years  ago  that  the  results 
of  the  war  with  Spain  put  us  unexpectedly  in 
possession  of  rich  islands  on  the  other  side  of 
the  world  and  brought  us  into  association  with 
other  governments  in  the  control  of  the  West 
Indies. 

It  was  regarded  as  a  sinister  and  ominous 
thing  by  the  statesmen  of  more  than  one 
European  chancellery  that  we  should  have 
extended  our  power  beyond  the  confines  of  our 
continental  dominions.  They  were  accus 
tomed  to  think  of  new  neighbors  as  a  new 
menace,  of  rivals  as  watchful  enemies. 

There  were  persons  among  us  at  home  who 
looked  with  deep  disapproval  and  avowed 
anxiety  on  such  extensions  of  our  national  au 
thority  over  distant  islands  and  over  peoples 


22        THE  HOPE  OF  THE  WORLD 

whom  they  feared  we  might  exploit,  not  serve 
and  assist.  But  we  have  not  exploited  them. 
We  have  been  their  friends  and  have  sought  to 
serve  them.  And  our  dominion  has  been  a 
menace  to  no  other  nation.  We  redeemed  our 
honor  to  the  utmost  in  our  dealings  with 
Cuba.  She  is  weak,  but  absolutely  free,  and 
it  is  her  trust  in  us  that  makes  her  free. 

Weak  peoples  everywhere  stand  ready  to 
give  us  any  authority  among  them  that  will 
assure  them  a  like  friendly  oversight  and 
direction.  They  know  that  there  is  no  ground 
for  fear  in  receiving  us  as  their  mentors  and 
guides. 

Our  isolation  was  ended  twenty  years  ago, 
•ind  now  fear  of  us  is  ended  also,  our  counsel 
:vnd  association  sought  after  and  desired. 
There  can  be  no  question  of  our  ceasing  to  be 
a  world  power.  The  only  question  is  whether 
we  can  refuse  the  moral  leadership  that  is 
offered  us,  whether  we  shall  accept  or  reject  the 
confidence  of  the  world. 

The  war  and  the  conference  of  peace,  now 
sitting  in  Paris,  seem  to  me  to  have  answered 
that  question.  Our  participation  in  the  war 
established  our  position  among  the  nations, 
and  nothing  but  our  own  mistaken  action  can 
alter  it.  It  was  not  an  accident  or  a  matter 
of  sudden  choice  that  we  are  no  longer  isolated 
and  devoted  to  a  policy  which  has  only  our 
own  interest  and  advantage  for  its  object.  It 


THE  TREATY  AND  THE  COVENANT  23 

was  our  duty  to  go  in,  if  we  were,  indeed,  the 
champions  of  liberty  and  of  right. 

We  answered  to  the  call  of  duty  in  a  way  so 
spirited,  so  utterly  without  thought  of  what 
we  spent  of  blood  or  treasure,  so  effective,  so 
worthy  of  the  admiration  of  true  men  every 
where,  so  wrought  out  of  the  stuff  of  all  that 
was  heroic,  that  the  whole  world  saw  at  last, 
in  the  flesh,  in  noble  action,  a  great  ideal  as 
serted  and  vindicated  by  a  nation  they  had 
deemed  material  and  now  found  to  be  compact 
of  the  spiritual  forces  that  must  free  men  of 
every  nation  from  every  unworthy  bondage. 
It  is  thus  that  a  new  role  and  a  new  respon 
sibility  have  come  to  this  great  nation  that  we 
honor  and  which  we  would  all  wish  to  lift  to 
yej:<  higher  levels  of  service  and  achievement. 

1  Tie  stage  is  set,  the  destiny  disclosed.  It  % 
%ad  come  about  by  no  plan  of  our  conceiving,  J 
buiy  oy  the  hand  of  God,  who  led  us  into  this 
way.  \7e  cannot  turn  back.  We  can  only  go 
forward,  with  lifted  <*yes  and  freshened  spirit, 
to  follow  the  vision.  It  was  of  this  that  we 
dreamed  at  our  birth.  America  shall  in  truth 
show  the  way.  The  light  streams  upon  the  j 
path  ahead,  and  nowhere  else. 


II 

THE  HIGH  COST  OF  LIVING 
(WASHINGTON,  August  6t  1919) 

In  his  address  to  the  joint  session  of  Congress 
President  Wilson  said: 

GENTLEMEN  OF  THE  CONGRESS:  I  have 
sought  this  opportunity  to  address  you  because 
it  is  clearly  my  duty  to  call  your  attention  to 
the  present  cost  of  living  and  to  urge  upon  you 
with  all  the  persuasive  force  of  which  I  am 
capable  the  legislative  measures  which  would 
be  most  effective  in  controlling  it  and  bringing 
it  down. 

The  prices  the  people  of  this  country  are 
paying  for  everything  that  it  is  necessary  for 
them  to  use  in  order  to  live  are  not  justified  by 
a  shortage  in  supply,  either  present  or  pros 
pective,  and  are  in  many  cases  artificially  and 
deliberately  created  by  vicious  practices  which 
ought  immediately  to  be  checked  by  law. 

They  constitute  a  burden  upon  us  which  is 
the  more  unbearable  because  we  know  that  it 
is  wilfully  imposed  by  those  who  have  the 


THE  HIGH  COST  OF  LIVING        25 

power,  and  that  it  can,  by  vigorous  public 
action,  be  greatly  lightened  and  made  to  square 
with  the  actual  conditions  of  supply  and  de 
mand.  Some  of  the  methods  by  which  these 
prices  are  produced  are  already  illegal,  some  of 
them  criminal,  and  those  who  employ  them 
will  be  energetically  proceeded  against;  but 
others  have  not  yet  been  brought  under  the 
law  and  should  be  dealt  with  at  once  by 
legislation. 

I  need  not  recite  the  particulars  of  this 
critical  matter.  The  prices  demanded  and 
paid  at  the  sources  of  supply,  at  the  factory, 
in  the  food  markets,  at  the  shops,  in  the  res 
taurants  and  hotels,  are  alike  in  the  city  and 
in  the  village.  They  are  familiar  to  you. 
They  are  the  talk  of  every  domestic  circle,  and 
of  every  group  of  casual  acquaintances,  even. 

It  is  matter  of  familiar  knowledge,  also, 
that  a  process  has  set  in  which  is  likely,  unless 
something  is  done,  to  push  prices  and  rents 
and  the  whole  cost  of  living  higher  and  yet 
higher  in  a  vicious  circle  to  which  there  is  no 
logical  or  natural  end. 

With  the  increase  in  the  prices  of  the  neces 
saries  of  life  come  demands  for  increases  in 
wages — demands  which  are  justified  if  there 
be  no  other  means  of  enabling  men  to  live. 
Upon  the  increase  of  wages  there  follows  close 
an  increase  in  the  price  of  the  products  whose 
producers  have  been  accorded  the  increase — > 


26         THE  HOPE  OF  THE  WORLD 

not  a  proportionate  increase,  for  the  manufact 
urer  does  not  content  himself  with  that — but 
an  increase  considerably  greater  than  the 
added  wage  cost,  and  for  which  the  added 
wage  cost  is  oftentimes  hardly  more  than  an 
excuse. 

The  laborers  who  do  not  get  an  increase  in 
pay  when  they  demand  it  are  likely  to  strike, 
and  the  strike  only  makes  matters  worse.  It 
checks  production.  If  it  affects  the  railways, 
it  prevents  distribution  and  strips  the  mar 
kets,  so  that  there  is  presently  nothing  to  buy, 
and  there  is  another  excessive  addition  to 
prices  resulting  from  the  scarcity. 

These  are  facts  and  forces  with  which  we 
have  become  only  too  familiar;  but  we  are 
not  justified,  because  of  our  familiarity  with 
them  or  because  of  any  hasty  and  shallow 
conclusion  that  they  are  ''natural"  and  in 
evitable,  in  sitting  inactively  by  and  letting 
them  work  their  fatal  results  if  there  is  any 
thing  that  we  can  do  to  check,  correct,  or  re 
verse  them.  I  have  sought  this  opportunity 
to  inform  the  Congress  what  the  Executive  is 
doing  by  way  of  remedy  and  control,  and  to 
suggest  where  effective  legal  remedies  are 
lacking  and  may  be  supplied. 

We  must,  I  think,  frankly  admit  that  there 
is  no  complete,  immediate  remedy  to  be  had 
from  legislation  and  executive  action.  The 
free  processes  of  supply  and  demand  will  not 


THE  HIGH  COST  OF  LIVING        27 

operate  of  themselves  and  no  legislative  or 
executive  action  can  force  them  into  full  and 
natural  operation  until  there  is  peace. 

There  is  now  neither  peace  nor  war.  All  the 
world  is  waiting — with  what  unnerving  fears 
and  haunting  doubts  who  can  adequately  say  ? 
—waiting  to  know  when  it  comes;  a  peace  in 
which  each  nation  shall  make  shift  for  itself 
as  it  can,  or  a  peace  buttressed  and  supported 
by  the  will  and  concert  of  the  nations  that 
have  the  purpose  and  the  power  to  do  and  to 
enforce  what  is  right. 

Politically,  economically,  socially  the  world 
is  on  the  operating-table,  and  it  has  not  been 
possible  to  administer  any  anesthetic.  It  is 
conscious.  It  even  watches  the  capital  opera 
tion  upon  which  it  knows  that  its  hope  of 
healthful  life  depends.  It  cannot  think  its 
business  out  or  make  plans  or  give  intelligent 
and  provident  direction  to  its  affairs  while  in 
such  a  case.  Where  there  is  no  peace  of  mind 
there  can  be  no  energy  in  endeavor.  There 
can  be  no  confidence  in  industry,  no  calcula 
ble  basis  for  credits,  no  confident  buying  or 
systematic  selling,  no  certain  prospect  of 
employment,  no  normal  restoration  of  business, 
no  hopeful  attempt  at  reconstruction  or  the 
proper  reassembling  of  the  dislocated  elements 
of  enterprise  until  peace  has  been  established 
and,  so  far  as  may  be,  guaranteed. 

Our  national  life  has  no  doubt  been  less 


28         THE  HOPE  OF  THE  WORLD 

radically  disturbed  and  dismembered  than  the 
national  life  of  other  peoples  whom  the  war 
more  directly  affected,  with  all  its  terrible 
ravaging  and  destructive  force,  but  it  has  been, 
nevertheless,  profoundly  affected  and  disar 
ranged,  and  our  industries,  our  credits,  our 
productive  capacity,  our  economic  processes 
are  inextricably  interwoven  with  those  of 
other  nations  and  peoples — most  intimately 
of  all  with  the  nations  and  peoples  upon  whom 
the  chief  burden  and  confusion  of  the  war  fell, 
and  who  are  now  most  dependent  upon  the 
co-operative  action  of  the  world. 

We  are  just  now  shipping  more  goods  out 
of  our  ports  to  foreign  markets  than  we  ever 
shipped  before — not  foodstuffs  merely,  but 
stuffs  and  materials  of  every  sort;  but  this  is 
no  index  of  what  our  foreign  sales  will  con 
tinue  to  be,  or  of  the  effect  the  volume  of  our 
exports  will  have  on  supplies  and  prices. 

It  is  impossible  yet  to  predict  how  far  or 
how  long  foreign  purchasers  will  be  able  to 
find  the  money  or  the  credit  to  pay  for  or  sus 
tain  such  purchases  on  such  a  scale ;  how  soon 
or  to  what  extent  foreign  manufacturers  can 
resume  their  former  production,  foreign  farm 
ers  get  their  accustomed  crops  from  their  own 
fields,  foreign  mines  resume  their  former  out 
put,  foreign  merchants  set  up  again  their  old 
machinery  of  trade  with  the  ends  of  the  earth. 

All    these    things    must    remain    uncertain 


THE  HIGH  COST  OF  LIVING        29 

until  peace  is  established  and  the  nations  of  the 
world  have  concerted  the  methods  by  which 
normal  life  and  industry  are  to  be  restored. 
All  that  we  shall  do,  in  the  mean  time,  to 
restrain  profiteering  and  put  the  life  of  our 
people  upon  a  tolerable  footing  will  be  make 
shift  and  provisional. 

There  can  be  no  settled  conditions  here  or 
elsewhere  until  the  treaty  of  peace  is  out  of  the 
way  and  the  work  of  liquidating  the  war  has 
become  the  chief  concern  of  our  government 
and  of  the  other  governments  of  the  world. 
Until  then  business  will  inevitably  remain 
speculative  and  sway  now  this  way  and  again 
that,  with  heavy  losses  or  heavy  gains,  as  it 
may  chance,  and  the  consumer  must  take  care 
of  both  the  gains  and  the  losses.  There  can 
be  no  peace  prices  so  long  as  our  whole  finan 
cial  and  economic  system  is  on  a  war  basis. 

Europe  will  not,  cannot  recoup  her  capital 
or  put  her  restless,  distracted  peoples  to  work 
until  she  knows  exactly  where  she  stands  in 
respect  of  peace;  and  what  we  will  do  is  for 
her  the  chief  question  upon  which  her  quietude 
of  mind  and  confidence  of  purpose  depend. 
While  there  is  any  possibility  that  the  peace 
terms  may  be  changed  or  may  be  held  long  in 
abeyance  or  may  not  be  enforced  because  of 
divisions  of  opinion  among  the  powers  asso 
ciated  against  Germany  it  is  idle  to  look  for 
permanent  relief. 


30         THE  HOPE  OF  THE  WORLD 

But  what  we  can  do  we  should  do,  and 
should  do  at  once.  And  there  is  a  great  deal 
that  we  can  do,  provisional  though  it  be. 
Wheat  shipments  and  credits  to  facilitate  the 
purchase  of  our  wheat  can  and  will  be  limited 
and  controlled  in  such  a  way  as  not  to  raise 
but  rather  to  lower  the  price  of  flour  here. 
The  government  has  the  power,  within  certain 
limits,  to  regulate  that. 

We  cannot  deny  wheat  to  foreign  peoples 
who  are  in  dire  need  of  it,  and  we  do  not  wish 
to  do  so;  but  fortunately,  though  the  wheat 
crop  is  not  what  we  hoped  it  would  be,  it  is 
abundant  if  handled  with  provident  care. 
The  price  of  wheat  is  lower  in  the  United 
States  than  in  Europe  and  can  with  proper 
management  be  kept  so. 

By  way  of  immediate  relief,  surplus  stocks 
of  both  food  and  clothing  in  the  hands  of  the 
government  will  be  sold,  and,  of  course,  sold 
at  prices  at  which  there  is  no  profit. 

And  by  way  of  a  more  permanent  correc 
tion  of  prices  surplus  stocks  in  private  hands 
will  be  drawn  out  of  storage  and  put  upon 
the  market.  Fortunately,  under  the  terms  of 
the  food-control  act  the  hoarding  of  foodstuffs 
can  be  checked  and  prevented;  and  it  will 
be,  with  the  greatest  energy. 

Foodstuffs  can  be  drawn  out  of  storage  and 
sold  by  legal  action  which  the  Department  of 
Justice  will  institute  wherever  necessary;  but 


THE  HIGH  COST  OF  LIVING        31 

so  soon  as  the  situation  is  systematically  dealt 
with  it  is  not  likely  that  the  courts  will  often 
have  to  be  resorted  to.  Much  of  the  accu 
mulating  of  stocks  has  no  doubt  been  due  to 
the  sort  of  speculation  which  always  results 
from  uncertainty.  Great  surpluses  were  ac 
cumulated  because  it  was  impossible  to  foresee 
what  the  market  would  disclose,  and  dealers 
were  determined  to  be  ready  for  whatever 
might  happen,  as  well  as  eager  to  reap  the 
full  advantage  of  rising  prices.  They  will 
now  see  the  disadvantage,  as  well  as  the 
danger,  of  holding  off  from  the  new  process 
of  distribution. 

Some  very  interesting  and  significant  facts 
with  regard  to  stocks  on  hand  and  the  rise  of 
prices  in  the  face  of  abundance  have  been  dis 
closed  by  the  inquiries  of  the  Department  of 
Agriculture,  the  Department  of  Labor,  and  the 
Federal  Trade  Commission.  They  seem  to 
justify  the  statement  that  in  the  case  of  many 
necessary  commodities  effective  means  have 
been  found  to  prevent  the  normal  operation  of 
the  law  of  supply  and  demand. 

Disregarding  the  surplus  stocks  in  the  hands 
of  the  government,  there  was  a  greater  supply 
of  foodstuffs  in  this  country  on  June  ist  of  this 
year  than  at  the  same  date  last  year.  In  the 
combined  total  of  a  number  of  the  most  im 
portant  foods  in  dry  and  cold  storage  the  excess 
is  quite  19  per  cent.  And  yet  prices  have  risen. 


32        THE  HOPE  OF  THE  WORLD 

The  supply  of  fresh  eggs  on  hand  in  June  of 
this  year,  for  example,  was  greater  by  nearly 
10  per  cent,  than  the  supply  on  hand  at  the 
same  time  last  year,  and  yet  the  wholesale 
price  was  40  cents  a  dozen  as  against  30  cents 
a  year  ago. 

The  stock  of  frozen  fowls  had  increased 
more  than  298  per  cent.,  and  yet  the  price 
had  risen,  also,  from  34^  cents  per  pound  to 
37>^  cents.  The  supply  of  creamery  butter 
had  increased  129  per  cent,  and  the  price  from 
41  to  53  cents  per  pound. 

The  supply  of  salt  beef  had  been  augmented 
3  per  cent.,  and  the  price  had  gone  up  from 
$34  a  barrel  to  $36  a  barrel.  Canned  corn 
had  increased  in  stock  nearly  92  per  cent,  and 
had  remained  substantially  the  same  in  price. 
In  a  few  foodstuffs  the  prices  had  declined, 
but  in  nothing  like  the  proportion  in  which  the 
supply  had  increased. 

For  example,  the  stock  of  canned  tomatoes 
had  increased  102  per  cent,  and  yet  the  price 
had  declined  only  25  cents  per  dozen  cans. 
In  some  cases  there  had  been  the  usual  result 
of  an  increase  of  price  following  a  decrease  of 
supply,  but  in  almost  every  instance  the  in 
crease  of  price  had  been  disproportionate  to 
the  decrease  in  stock. 

The  Attorney-General  has  been  making  a 
careful  study  of  the  situation  as  a  whole  and 
of  the  laws  that  can  be  applied  to  better  it, 


THE  HIGH  COST  OF  LIVING        33 

and  is  convinced  that  under  the  stimulation 
and  temptation  of  exceptional  circumstances 
combinations  of  producers  and  combinations  of 
traders  have  been  formed  for  the  control  of 
supplies  and  of  prices  which  are  clearly  in 
restraint  of  trade,  and  against  these  prosecu 
tions  will  be  promptly  instituted  and  actively 
pushed,  which  will  in  all  likelihood  have  a 
prompt  corrective  effect. 

There  is  reason  to  believe  that  the  prices  of 
leather,  of  coal,  of  lumber,  and  of  textiles  have 
been  materially  affected  by  forms  of  concert 
and  co-operation  among  the  producers  and 
marketers  of  these  and  other  universally 
necessary  commodities  which  it  will  be  possible 
to  redress. 

No  watchful  or  energetic  effort  will  be  spared 
to  accomplish  this  necessary  result.  I  trust 
that  there  will  not  be  many  cases  in  which 
prosecution  will  be  necessary.  Public  action 
will  no  doubt  cause  many  who  have  perhaps 
unwittingly  adopted  illegal  methods  to  aban 
don  them  promptly  and  of  their  own  motion. 

And  publicity  can  accomplish  a  great  deal. 
The  purchaser  can  often  take  care  of  himself 
if  he  knows  the  facts  and  influences  he  is 
dealing  with;  and  purchasers  are  not  disin 
clined  to  do  anything,  either  singly  or  col 
lectively,  that  may  be  necessary  for  their  self- 
protection.  The  Department  of  Commerce, 
the  Department  of  Agriculture,  the  Depart- 


34        THE  HOPE  OF  THE  WORLD 

ment  of  Labor,  and  the  Federal  Trade  Com 
mission  can  do  a  great  deal  toward  supplying 
the  public,  systematically  and  at  short  inter 
vals,  with  information  regarding  the  actual 
supply  of  particular  commodities  that  is  in 
existence  and  available,  and  with  regard  to 
supplies  which  are  in  existence  but  not  avail 
able  because  of  hoarding,  and  with  regard  to 
the  methods  of  price-fixing  which  are  being 
used  by  dealers  in  certain  foodstuffs  and  other 
necessaries. 

There  can  be  little  doubt  that  retailers  are 
in  part — sometimes  in  large  part — responsible 
for  exorbitant  prices;  and  it  is  quite  prac 
ticable  for  the  government,  through  the 
agencies  I  have  mentioned,  to  supply  the 
public  with  full  information  as  to  the  prices 
at  which  retailers  buy  and  as  to  the  costs  of 
transportation  they  pay,  in  order  that  it  may 
be  known  just  what  margin  of  profit  they  are 
demanding.  Opinion  and  concerted  action  on 
the  part  of  purchasers  can  probably  do  the 
rest. 

That  is,  those  agencies  may  perform  this 
indispensable  service  provided  the  Congress 
will  supply  them  with  the  necessary  funds  to 
prosecute  their  inquiries  and  keep  their  price- 
lists  up  to  date.  Hitherto  the  appropriation 
committees  of  the  Houses  have  not  always,  I 
fear,  seen  the  full  value  of  these  inquiries,  and 
the  departments  and  commissions  have  been 


THE  HIGH  COST  OF  LIVING        35 

very  much  straitened  for  means  to  render  this 
service. 

That  adequate  funds  be  provided  by  appro 
priation  for  this  purpose,  and  provided  as 
promptly  as  possible,  is  one  of  the  means  of 
greatly  ameliorating  the  present  distressing 
conditions  of  livelihood  that  I  have  come  to 
urge,  in  this  attempt  to  concert  with  you  the 
best  ways  to  serve  the  country  in  this  emer 
gency.  It  is  one  of  the  absolutely  necessary 
means,  underlying  many  others,  and  can  be 
supplied  at  once. 

There  are  many  other  ways.  Existing  law 
is  inadequate.  There  are  many  perfectly 
legitimate  methods  by  which  the  government 
can  exercise  restraint  and  guidance. 

Let  me  urge,  in  the  first  place,  that  the 
present  food-control  act  should  be  extended 
both  as  to  the  period  of  time  during  which  it 
shall  remain  in  operation  and  as  to  the  com 
modities  to  which  it  shall  apply.  Its  pro- 
•visions  against  hoarding  should  be  made  to 
apply  not  only  to  food,  but  also  to  foodstuffs, 
to  fuel,  to  clothing,  and  to  many  other  com 
modities  which  are  indisputably  necessaries  of 
life. 

As  it  stands  now  it  is  limited  in  operation  to 

the  period  of  the  war  and  becomes  inoperative 

i  upon  the  formal  proclamation  of  peace.     But 

I  should  judge  that  it  was  clearly  within  the 

I  constitutional  power  of  the  Congress  to  make 


36        THE  HOPE  OF  THE  WORLD 

similar  permanent  provisions  and  regulations 
with  regard  to  all  goods  destined  for  interstate 
commerce  and  to  exclude  them  from  interstate 
shipment  if  the  requirements  of  the  law  are  not 
complied  with. 

Some  such  regulation  is  imperatively  neces 
sary.  The  abuses  that  have  grown  up  in  the 
manipulation  of  prices  by  the  withholding  of 
foodstuffs  and  other  necessaries  of  life  cannot 
otherwise  be  effectively  prevented.  There 
can  be  no  doubt  of  either  the  necessity  or  the 
legitimacy  of  such  measures. 

May  I  not  call  attention  to  the  fact  also 
that,  although  the  present  act  prohibits  profit 
eering,  the  prohibition  is  accompanied  by  no 
penalty.  It  is  clearly  in  the  public  interest 
that  a  penalty  should  be  provided  which  will 
be  persuasive. 

To  the  same  end  I  earnestly  recommend,  in 
the  second  place,  that  the  Congress  pass  a  law 
regulating  cold  storage  as  it  is  regulated,  for 
example,  by  the  laws  of  the  state  of  New 
Jersey,  which  limit  the  time  during  which 
goods  may  be  kept  in  storage,  prescribe  the 
method  of  disposing  of  them  if  kept  beyond 
the  permitted  period,  and  require  that  goods 
released  from  storage  shall  in  all  cases  bear 
the  date  of  their  receipt. 

It  would  materially  add  to  the  service 
ability  of  the  law,  for  the  purpose  we  now  have 
in  view,  if  it  were  also  prescribed  that  all  goods 


THE  HIGH  COST  OF  LIVING        37 

released  from  storage  for  interstate  shipments 
should  have  plainly  marked  upon  each  package 
the  selling  or  market  price  at  which  they  went 
into  storage.  By  this  means  the  purchaser 
would  always  be  able  to  learn  what  profits 
stood  between  him  and  the  producer  or  the 
wholesale  dealer. 

It  would  serve  as  a  useful  example  to  the 
other  communities  of  the  country,  as  well  as 
greatly  relieve  local  distress,  if  the  Congress 
were  to  regulate  all  such  matters  very  fully 
for  the  District  of  Columbia,  where  its  legis 
lative  authority  is  without  limit. 

I  would  also  recommend  that  it  be  required 
that  all  goods  destined  for  interstate  commerce 
should,  in  every  case  where  their  form  or 
package  makes  it  possible,  be  plainly  marked 
with  the  price  at  which  they  left  the  hands  of 
the  producer.  Such  a  requirement  would 
bear  a  close  analogy  to  certain  provisions  of  the 
Pure  Food  Act,  by  which  it  is  required  that 
certain  detailed  information  be  given  on  the 
labels  of  packages  of  foods  and  drugs. 

And  it  does  not  seem  to  me  that  we  can  con 
fine  ourselves   to   detailed   measures   of   this 
kind  if  it  is,  indeed,  our  purpose  to  assume  na-  i 
tional  control  of  the  processes  of  distribution.' 
I  take  it  for  granted  that  that  is  our  purpose 
and  our  duty.     Nothing  less  will  suffice. 

We  need  not  hesitate  to  handle  a  national 
question  in  a  national  way.  We  should  go 


38         THE  HOPE  OF  THE  WORLD 

beyond  the  measures  I  have  suggested.  We 
should  formulate  a  law  requiring  a  Federal 
license  of  all  corporations  engaged  in  inter 
state  commerce  and  embodying  in  the  license, 
or  in  the  conditions  under  which  it  is  to  be 
issued,  specific  regulations  designed  to  secure 
competitive  selling  and  prevent  unconscion 
able  profits  in  the  method  of  marketing. 
Such  a  law  would  afford  a  welcome  oppor 
tunity  to  effect  other  much-needed  reforms  in 
the  business  of  interstate  shipment  and  in  the 
methods  of  corporations  which  are  engaged  in 
it;  but  for  the  moment  I  confine  my  recom 
mendations  to  the  object  immediately  in 
hand,  which  is  to  lower  the  cost  of  living. 

May  I  not  add  that  there  is  a  bill  pending 
before  the  Congress  which,  if  passed,  would  do 
much  to  stop  speculation  and  to  prevent  the 
fraudulent  methods  of  promotion  by  which 
our  people  are  annually  fleeced  of  many  mill 
ions  of  hard-earned  money.  I  refer  to  the 
measure  proposed  by  the  Capital  Issues  Com 
mittee  for  the  control  of  security  issues.  It  is 
a  measure  formulated  by  men  who  know  the 
actual  conditions  of  business,  and  its  adoption 
would  serve  a  great  and  beneficent  purpose. 

We  are  dealing,  gentlemen  of  the  Congress, 
I  need  hardly  say,  with  very  critical  and  very 
difficult  matters. 

We  should  go  forward  with  confidence 
along  the  road  we  see,  but  we  should  also  seek 


THE  HIGH  COST  OF  LIVING        39 

to  comprehend  the  whole  of  the  scene  amid 
which  we  act.  There  is  no  ground  for  some 
of  the  fearful  forecasts  I  hear  uttered  about 
me,  but  the  condition  of  the  world  is  unques 
tionably  very  grave  and  we  should  face  it 
compr  ehendingly . 

The  situation  of  our  own  country  is  excep 
tionally  fortunate.  We  of  all  peoples  can 
afford  to  keep  our  heads  and  to  determine 
upon  moderate  and  sensible  courses  of  action 
which  will  insure  us  against  the  passions  and 
distempers  which  are  working  such  deep  un- 
happiness  for  some  of  the  distressed  nations 
on  the  other  side  of  the  sea.  But  we  may  be 
involved  in  their  distresses  unless  we  help, 
and  help  with  energy  and  intelligence. 

The  world  must  pay  for  the  appalling  de 
struction  wrought  by  the  Great  War,  and  we 
are  part  of  the  world.  We  must  pay  our  share. 
For  five  years  now  the  industry  of  all  Europe 
has  been  slack  and  disordered;  the  normal 
crops  have  not  been  produced;  the  normal 
quantity  of  manufactured  goods  has  not  been 
turned  out.  Not  until  there  are  the  usual 
crops  and  the  usual  production  of  manufact 
ured  goods  on  the  other  side  of  the  Atlantic 
can  Europe  return  to  the  former  conditions, 
and  it  was  upon  the  former  conditions,  not  the 
present,  that  our  economic  relations  with 
Europe  were  built  up. 

We  must  face  the  fact  that  unless  we  help 


40         THE  HOPE  OF  THE  WORLD 

Europe  to  get  back  to  her  normal  life  and  pro 
duction  a  chaos  will  ensue  there  which  will 
inevitably  be  communicated  to  this  country. 
For  the  present,  it  is  manifest,  we  must 
quicken,  not  slacken,  our  own  production. 
We,  and  we  almost  alone,  now  hold  the  world 
steady.  Upon  our  steadfastness  and  self- 
possession  depend  the  affairs  of  nations 
everywhere. 

It  is  in  this  supreme  crisis — this  crisis  for  all 
mankind — that  America  must  prove  her  met 
tle.  In  the  presence  of  a  world  confused, 
distracted,  she  must  show  herself  self-pos 
sessed,  self-contained,  capable  of  sober  and 
effective  action.  She  saved  Europe  by  her 
action  in  arms;  she  must  now  save  it  by  her 
action  in  peace.  In  saving  Europe  she  will 
save  herself,  as  she  did  upon  the  battle-fields 
of  the  war.  The  calmness  and  capacity  with 
which  she  deals  with  and  masters  the  problems 
of  peace  will  be  the  final  test  and  proof  of  her 
place  among  the  peoples  of  the  world. 

And  if  only  in  our  own  interest  we  must 
help  the  people  overseas.  Europe  is  our  big 
gest  customer.  We  must  keep  her  going  or 
thousands  of  our  shops  and  scores  of  our  mines 
must  close.  There  is  no  such  thing  as  letting 
her  go  to  ruin  without  ourselves  sharing  in 
the  disaster. 

In  such  circumstances,  face  to  face  witH 
such  tests,  passion  must  be  discarded.  Pas- 


THE  HIGH  COST  OF  LIVING        41 

sion  and  a  disregard  for  the  rights  of  others 
have  no  place  in  the  counsels  of  a  free  people. 
We  need  light,  not  heat,  in  these  solemn 
times  of  self-examination  and  saving  action. 
There  must  be  no  threats.  Let  there  be  only 
intelligent  counsel,  and  let  the  best  reasons 
win,  not  the  strongest  brute  force.  The 
world  has  just  destroyed  the  arbitrary  force 
of  a  military  junta.  It  will  live  under  no 
other.  All  that  is  arbitrary  and  coercive  is 
in  the  discard.  Those  who  seek  to  employ  it 
only  prepare  their  own  destruction. 

We  cannot  hastily  and  overnight  revolu 
tionize  all  the  processes  of  our  economic  life. 
We  shall  not  attempt  to  do  so.  These  are 
days  of  deep  excitement  and  of  extravagant 
speech;  but  with  us  these  are  things  of  the 
surface.  Every  one  who  is  in  real  touch  with 
the  silent  masses  of  our  great  people  knows 
that  the  old  strong  fiber  and  steady  self-control 
are  still  there,  firm  against  violence  or  any 
distempered  action  that  would  throw  their 
affairs  into  confusion. 

I  am  serenely  confident  that  they  will  readily 
find  themselves,  no  matter  what  the  circum 
stances,  and  that  they  will  address  themselves 
to  the  tasks  of  peace  with  the  same  devotion 
and  the  same  stalwart  preference  for  what  is 
right  that  they  displayed  to  the  admiration 
of  the  whole  world  in  the  midst  of  war. 

And   I   entertain   another   confident  hope. 


42         THE  HOPE  OF  THE  WORLD 

I  have  spoken  to-day  chiefly  of  measures  of 
imperative  regulation  and  legal  compulsion, 
of  prosecutions  and  the  sharp  correction  of 
selfish  processes;  and  these  no  doubt  are 
necessary.  But  there  are  other  forces  that 
we  may  count  on  besides  those  resident  in  the 
Department  of  Justice. 

We  have  just  fully  awakened  to  what  has 
been  going  on  and  to  the  influences,  many  of 
them  very  selfish  and  sinister,  that  have  been 
producing  high  prices  and  imposing  an  intoler 
able  burden  on  the  mass  of  our  people.  To 
have  brought  it  all  into  the  open  will  accom 
plish  the  greater  part  of  the  result  we  seek. 

I  appeal  with  entire  confidence  to  our  pro 
ducers,  our  middlemen,  and  our  merchants  to 
deal  fairly  with  the  people.  It  is  their  oppor 
tunity  to  show  that  they  comprehend,  that 
they  intend  to  act  justly,  and  that  they  have 
the  public  interest  sincerely  at  heart.  And  I 
have  no  doubt  that  housekeepers  all  over  the 
country  and  every  one  who  buys  the  things  he 
daily  stands  in  need  of  will  presently  exercise 
a  greater  vigilance,  a  more  thoughtful  econ 
omy,  a  more  discriminating  care  as  to  the  mar 
ket  in  which  he  buys  or  the  merchant  with 
whom  he  trades  than  he  has  hitherto  exercised. 

I  believe,  too,  that  the  more  extreme  leaders 
of  organized  labor  will  presently  yield  to  a 
sober  second  thought  and,  like  the  great  mass 
of  their  associates,  think  and  act  like  true 


THE  HIGH  COST  OF  LIVING        43 

Americans.  They  will  see  that  strikes  under 
taken  at  this  critical  time  are  certain  to  make 
matters  worse,  not  better — worse  for  them 
and  for  everybody  else. 

The  worst  thing,  the  most  fatal  thing  that 
can  be  done  now  is  to  stop  or  interrupt  pro 
duction  or  to  interfere  with  the  distribution  of 
goods  by  the  railways  and  the  shipping  of  the 
country.  We  are  all  involved  in  the  distress 
ing  result  of  the  high  cost  of  living  and  we 
must  unite,  not  divide,  to  correct  it.  There 
are  many  things  that  ought  to  be  corrected  in 
the  relations  between  capital  and  labor,  in 
respect  of  wages  and  conditions  of  labor  and 
other  things  even  more  far-reaching,  and  I  for 
one  am  ready  to  go  into  conference  about  these 
matters  with  any  group  of  my  fellow-country 
men  who  know  what  they  are  talking  about 
and  are  willing  to  remedy  existing  conditions 
by  frank  counsel  rather  than  by  violent 
contest. 

No  remedy  is  possible  while  men  are  in  a 
temper,  and  there  can  be  no  settlement  which 
does  not  have  as  its  motive  and  standard  the 
general  interest.  Threats  and  undue  insist 
ence  upon  the  interest  of  a  single  class  make 
settlement  impossible. 

I  believe,  as  I  have  hitherto  had  occasion  to 
say  to  the  Congress,  that  the  industry  and 
life  of  our  people  and  of  the  world  will  suffer 
irreparable  damage  if  employers  and  workmen 


44         THE  HOPE  OF  THE  WORLD 

are  to  go  on  in  a  perpetual  contest  as  antago 
nists.  They  must,  on  one  plan  or  another,  be 
effectively  associated.  Have  we  not  steadiness 
and  self-possession  and  business  sense  enough 
to  work  out  that  result?  Undoubtedly  we 
have,  and  we  shall  work  it  out.  In  the  mean 
time — now  and  in  the  days  of  readjustment 
and  recuperation  that  are  ahead  of  us — let  us 
resort  more  and  more  to  frank  and  intimate 
counsel  and  make  ourselves  great  and  tri 
umphant  by  making  ourselves  a  united  force 
in  the  life  of  the  world.  It  will  not  then  have 
looked  to  us  for  leadership  in  vain. 


Ill 

A  MEMORANDUM  UPON  SHANTUNG 
(WASHINGTON,  August  n,  1919) 

In  a  letter  addressed  to  the  Senate  President 

Wilson  said: 

To  THE  SENATE  :  I  have  received  the  resolu 
tions  of  the  Senate,  dated  July  i$th  and  July 
1 7th,  asking: 

First,  for  a  copy  of  any  treaty  purporting 
to  have  been  projected  between  Germany  and 
Japan,  such  as  was  referred  to  in  the  press 
despatch  inclosed,  together  with  any  informa 
tion  in  regard  to  it  which  may  be  in  possession 
of  the  State  Department,  or  any  information 
concerning  any  negotiations  between  Japan 
and  Germany  during  the  progress  of  the  war. 
In  reply  to  this  resolution,  I  have  the  honor 
to  report  that  I  know  of  no  such  negotiations. 
I  had  heard  the  rumors  that  are  referred  to, 
but  was  never  able  to  satisfy  myself  that  there 
was  any  substantial  foundation  for  them. 

Second,  requesting  a  copy  of  any  letter  or 
written  protest  by  the  members  of  the  Ameri- 


46         THE  HOPE  OF  THE  WORLD 

can  Peace  Commission,  or  any  officials  at 
tached  thereto,  against  the  disposition  or 
adjustment  which  was  made  in  reference  to 
Shantung,  and  particularly  a  copy  of  a  letter 
written  by  Gen.  Tasker  H.  Bliss,  member  of 
the  Peace  Commission,  on  behalf  of  himself, 
Hon.  Robert  Lansing,  Secretary  of  State,  and 
Hon.  Henry  White,  members  of  the  Peace 
Commission,  protesting  against  the  provisions 
of  the  treaty  with  reference  to  Shantung. 

In  reply  to  this  request,  let  me  say  that- 
General  Bliss  did  write  me  a  letter  in  which  he 
took  very  strong  grounds  against  the  proposed 
Shantung  settlement,  and  that  his  objections 
were  concurred  in  by  the  Secretary  of  State 
and  Mr.  Henry  White.  But  the  letter  cannot 
properly  be  described  as  a  protest  against  the 
final  Shantung  decision,  because  it  was  written 
before  that  decision  had  been  arrived  at,  and 
in  response  to  my  request  that  my  colleagues 
on  the  commission  apprise  me  of  their  judg 
ment  in  the  matter.  The  final  decision  was 
very  materially  qualified  by  the  policy  which 
Japan  undertook  to  pursue  with  regard  to  the 
return  of  the  Shantung  Peninsula  in  full 
sovereignty  to  China. 

I  would  have  no  hesitation  in  sending  the 
Senate  a  copy  of  General  Bliss's  letter  were  it 
not  for  the  fact  that  it  contains  references  to 
other  governments  which  it  was  perfectly 
proper  for  General  Bliss  to  make  in  a  confiden- 


A  MEMORANDUM  UPON  SHANTUNG  47 

tial  communication  to  me,  but  which  I  am  sure 
General  Bliss  would  not  wish  to  have  repeated 
outside  our  personal  and  intimate  exchange  of 
views. 

I  have  received  no  written  protest  from  any 
officials  connected  with  or  attached  to  the 
American  Peace  Commission  with  regard  to 
this  matter. 

I  am  also  asked  to  send  you  any  memo 
randum  or  other  information  with  reference  to 
an  attempt  of  Japan  or  her  Peace  Delegates 
to  intimidate  the  Chinese  Peace  Delegates. 
I  am  happy  to  say  that  I  have  no  such  memo 
randum  or  information. 


IV 


AN  INDUSTRIAL  TRUCE  NECESSARY 
(WASHINGTON,  August  26,  ip/p) 

Following  is  the  President's  statement  to  the 
public  on  the  railway  labor  difficulties: 

MY  FELLOW-CITIZENS:  A  situation  has 
arisen  in  connection  with  the  administration 
of  the  railways  which  is  of  such  general  sig 
nificance  that  I  think  it  my  duty  to  make  a 
public  statement  concerning  it,  in  order  that 
the  whole  country  may  know  what  is  involved. 

The  railroad  shopmen  have  demanded  a 
large  increase  in  wages.  They  are  receiving 
58,  63,  and  68  cents  an  hour.  They  demand  85 
cents  an  hour.  This  demand  has  been  given 
careful  and  serious  consideration  by  the  board 
which  was  constituted  by  the  Railroad  Ad 
ministration  to  adjust  questions  of  wages,  a 
board  consisting  of  an  equal  number  of  repre 
sentatives  of  employees  and  of  the  operating 
managers  of  the  railroad  companies.  This 
board  has  been  unable  to  come  to  an  agree 
ment,  and  it  has  therefore  devolved  upon  the 


AN  INDUSTRIAL  TRUCE  NECESSARY    49 

Direct  or- General  of  Railroads  and  myself  to 
act  upon  the  merits  of  the  case. 

The  shopmen  urge  that  they  are  entitled  to 
higher  wages  because  of  the  higher  wages  for 
the  present  received  by  men  doing  a  similar 
work  in  shipyards,  navy-yards,  and  arsenals, 
as  well  as  in  a  number  of  private  industries, 
but  I  concur  with  the  Director-General  in 
thinking  that  there  is  no  real  basis  of  com 
parison  between  the  settled  employment  af 
forded  mechanics  by  the  railroads  under  liv 
ing  conditions  as  various  as  the  location  and 
surroundings  of  the  railway  shops  themselves 
and  the  fluctuating  employment  afforded  in 
industries  exceptionally  and  temporarily  stim 
ulated  by  the  war  and  located  almost  without 
exception  in  industrial  centers  where  the  cost 
of  living  is  highest. 

The  substantial  argument  which  the  shop 
men  urge  is  the  very  serious  increase  in  the  cost 
of  living.  This  is  a  very  potent  argument  in 
deed.  But  the  fact  is  that  the  cost  of  living 
has  certainly  reached  its  peak,  and  will  prob 
ably  be  lowered  by  the  efforts  which  are  now 
everywhere  being  concerted  and  carried  out. 
It  will  certainly  be  lowered  so  soon  as  there 
are  settled  conditions  of  production  and  of 
commerce ;  that  is,  so  soon  as  the  treaty  of 
peace  is  ratified  and  in  operation,  and  mer 
chants,  manufacturers,  farmers,  miners  all 
have  a  certain  basis  of  calculation  as  to  what 


50         THE  HOPE  OF  THE  WORLD 

their  business  will  be  and  what  the  conditions 
will  be  under  which  it  must  be  conducted. 

The  demand  of  the  shopmen,  therefore,  and 
all  similar  demands,  are  in  effect  this :  That  we 
make  increases  in  wages,  which  are  likely  to 
be  permanent,  in  order  to  meet  a  temporary 
situation  which  will  last  nobody  can  certainly 
tell  how  long,  but  in  all  probability  only  for  a 
limited  time.  Increases  in  wages  will,  more 
over,  certainly  result  in  still  further  increasing 
the  costs  of  production  and,  therefore,  the  cost 
of  living,  and  we  should  only  have  to  go 
through  the  same  process  again. 

Any  substantial  increase  of  wages  in  leading 
lines  of  industry  at  this  time  would  utterly 
crush  the  general  campaign  which  the  govern 
ment  is  waging,  with  energy,  vigor,  and  sub 
stantial  hope  of  success,  to  reduce  the  high 
cost  of  living.  And  the  increases  in  the  cost 
of  transportation  which  would  necessarily  re 
sult  from  increases  in  the  wages  of  railway  em 
ployees  would  more  certainly  and  more  im 
mediately  have  that  effect  than  any  other 
enhanced  wage  costs.  Only  by  keeping  the 
cost  of  production  on  its  present  level,  by 
increasing  production,  and  by  rigid  economy 
and  saving  on  the  part  of  the  people  can  we 
hope  for  large  decreases  in  the  burdensome 
cost  of  living  which  now  weighs  us  down. 

The  Director-General  of  Railroads  and  I 
have  felt  that  a  peculiar  responsibility  rests 


AN  INDUSTRIAL  TRUCE  NECESSARY    51 

upon  us,  because  in  determining  this  question 
we  are  not  studying  the  balance-sheets  of  cor 
porations  merely,  we  are  in  effect  determining 
the  burden  of  taxation  which  must  fall  upon 
the  people  of  the  country  in  general.  We  are 
acting  not  for -private  corporations,  but  in  the 
name  of  the  government  and  the  public,  and 
must  assess  our  responsibility  accordingly. 
For  it  is  neither  wise  nor  feasible  to  take  care 
of  increases  in  the  wages  of  railroad  employees 
at  this  time  by  increases  in  freight  rates.  It 
is  impossible  at  this  time,  until  peace  has 
come  and  normal  conditions  are  restored,  to 
estimate  what  the  earning  capacity  of  the  rail 
roads  will  be  when  ordinary  conditions  return. 

There  is  no  certain  basis,  therefore,  for  cal 
culating  what  the  increases  of  freight  rates 
should  be,  and  it  is  necessary,  for  the  time 
being  at  any  rate,  to  take  care  of  all  increases 
in  the  wages  of  railway  employees  through 
appropriations  from  the  public  treasury. 

In  such  circumstances  it  seems  clear  to  me, 
and  I  believe  will  seem  clear  to  every  thought 
ful  American,  including  the  shopmen  them 
selves  when  they  have  taken  second  thought, 
and  to  all  wage-earners  of  every  kind,  that  we 
ought  to  postpone  questions  of  this  sort  until 
normal  conditions  come  again  and  we  have 
the  opportunity  for  certain  calculation  as  to 
the  relation  between  wages  and  the  cost  of 

living.     It  is  the  duty  of  every  citizen  of  the 
5 


52        THE  HOPE  OF  THE  WORLD 

country  to  insist  upon  a  truce  in  such  con 
tests  until  intelligent  settlements  can  be 
made,  and  made  by  peaceful  and  effective 
common  counsel. 

I  appeal  to  my  fellow-citizens  of  every  em 
ployment  to  co-operate  in  insisting  upon  and 
maintaining  such  a  truce,  and  to  co-operate 
also  in  sustaining  the  government  in  what  I 
conceive  to  be  the  only  course  which  conscien 
tious  public  servants  can  pursue.  Demands 
unwisely  made  and  passionately  insisted  upon 
at  this  time  menace  the  peace  and  prosperity 
of  the  country  as  nothing  else  could,  and  thus 
contribute  to  bring  about  the  very  results 
which  such  demands  are  intended  to  remedy. 

There  is,  however,  one  claim  made  by  the 
railway  shopmen  which  ought  to  be  met. 
They  claim  that  they  are  not  enjoying  the 
same  advantages  that  other  railway  employees 
are  enjoying  because  their  wages  are  calculated 
upon  a  different  basis.  The  wages  of  other 
railway  employees  are  based  upon  the  rule  thai 
they  are  to  receive  for  eight  hours'  work  the 
same  pay  they  received  for  the  longer  workday 
that  was  the  usual  standard  of  the  pre-war 
period.  This  claim  is,  I  am  told,  well  founded ; 
and  I  concur  in  the  conclusion  of  the  Director- 
General  that  the  shopmen  ought  to  be  given 
the  additional  four  cents  an  hour  which  the 
readjustment  asked  for  will  justify.  There 
are  certain  other  adjustments,  also,  pointed 


AN  INDUSTRIAL  TRUCE  NECESSARY    53 

out  in  the  report  of  the  Director-General  which 
ought  in  fairness  to  be  made,  and  which  will 
be  made. 

Let  me  add,  also,  that  the  position  which 
the  government  must  in  conscience  take 
against  general  increases  in  wage  levels  while 
the  present  exceptional  and  temporary  circum 
stances  exist  will  of  course  not  preclude  the 
railroad  administration  from  giving  prompt 
and  careful  consideration  to  any  claims  that 
may  be  made  by  other  classes  of  employees  for 
readjustments  believed  to  be  proper  to  secure 
impartial  treatment  for  all  who  work  in  the 
railway  service. 


THE  REPLY  TO  THE  RAILWAY  SHOPMEN 
(WASHINGTON,  August  26,  1919} 

Following  is  ike  Presidents  statement  to  the 
railway  employees'  department  of  the  American 
Federation  oj  Labor: 

GENTLEMEN:  I  request  that  you  lay  this 
critical  matter  before  the  men  in  a  new  light. 
The  vote  they  have  taken  was  upon  the  ques 
tion  whether  they  should  insist  upon  the 
wage  increase  they  were  asking  or  consent  to 
the  submission  of  their  claims  to  a  new  tri 
bunal  to  be  constituted  by  new  legislation. 
That  question  no  longer  has  any  life  in  it. 
Such  legislation  is  not  now  in  contemplation. 
I  request  that  you  ask  the  men  to  reconsider 
the  whole  matter  in  view  of  the  following  con 
siderations,  to  which  I  ask  their  thoughtful 
attention  as  Americans,  and  which  I  hope 
that  you  will  lay  before  them  as  I  here  state 
them. 

We  are  face  to  face  with  a  situation  which  is 
more  likely  to  affect  the  happiness  and  pros- 


REPLY  TO  THE  RAILWAY  SHOPMEN    55 

perity,  and  even  the  life,  of  our  people  than  the 
war  itself.  We  have  now  got  to  do  nothing 
less  than  bring  our  industries  and  our  labor  of 
every  kind  back  to  a  normal  basis  after  the 
greatest  upheaval  known  to  history,  and  the 
winter  just  ahead  of  us  may  bring  suffering 
infinitely  greater  than  the  war  brought  upon 
us  if  we  blunder  or  fail  in  the  process. 

An  admirable  spirit  of  self-sacrifice,  of 
patriotic  devotion,  and  of  community  action 
guided  and  inspired  us  while  the  fighting  was 
on.  We  shall  need  all  these  now,  and  need 
them  in  a  heightened  degree,  if  we  are  to  ac 
complish  the  first  task  as  of  peace.  They  are 
more  difficult  than  the  tasks  of  war — more 
complex,  less  easily  understood — and  require 
more  intelligence,  patience,  and  sobriety. 
We  mobilized  our  man-power  for  the  fighting, 
let  us  now  mobilize  our  brain-power  and  our 
consciences  for  the  reconstruction.  If  we  fail, 
it  will  mean  national  disaster. 

The  primary  first  step  is  to  increase  pro 
duction  and  facilitate  transportation,  so  as 
to  make  up  for  the  destruction  wrought  by  the 
war,  the  terrible  scarcities  it  created,  and  as 
soon  as  possible  relieve  our  people  of  the  cruel 
burden  of  high  prices.  The  railways  are  at  the 
center  of  this  whole  process. 

The  government  has  taken  up  with  all  its 
energy  the  task  of  bringing  the  profiteer  to 
book,  making  the  stocks  of  necessaries  in  the 


56         THE  HOPE  OF  THE  WORLD 

country  available  at  lowered  prices,  stimu 
lating  production  and  facilitating  distribution, 
and  very  favorable  results  are  already  begin 
ning  to  appear.  There  is  reason  to  entertain 
the  confident  hope  that  substantial  relief  will 
result,  and  result  in  increasing  measure.  A 
general  increase  in  the  levels  of  wages  would 
check  and  might  defeat  all  this  at  its  very 
beginning.  Such  increases  would  inevitably 
raise,  not  lower,  the  cost  of  living.  Manu 
facturers  and  producers  of  every  sort  would 
have  innumerable  additional  pretexts  for  in 
creasing  profits,  and  all  efforts  to  discover 
and  defeat  profiteering  would  be  hopelessly 
confused. 

I  believe  that  the  present  efforts  to  reduce 
the  cost  of  living  will  be  successful  if  no  new 
elements  of  difficulty  are  thrown  in  the  way; 
and  I  confidently  count  upon  the  men  engaged 
in  the  service  of  the  railways  to  assist,  not  ob 
struct.  It  is  much  more  in  their  interest  to  do 
this  than  to  insist  upon  wage  increases  which 
will  undo  everything  the  government  attempts. 
They  are  good  Americans,  along  with  the  rest 
of  us,  and  may,  I  am  sure,  be  counted  on  to 
see  the  point. 

It  goes  without  saying  that  if  our  efforts  to 
bring  the  cost  of  living  down  should  fail,  after 
we  have  had  time  enough  to  establish  either 
success  or  failure,  it  will  of  course  be  necessary 
to  accept  the  higher  costs  of  living  as  a  per- 


REPLY  TO  THE  RAILWAY  SHOPMEN    57 

ffianent  basis  of  adjustment,  and  railway  wages 
should  be  readjusted  along  with  the  rest.  All 
that  I  am  now  urging  is  that  we  should  not  be 
guilty  of  the  inexcusable  inconsistency  of 
making  general  increases  in  wages  on  the  as 
sumption  that  the  present  cost  of  living  will 
be  permanent  at  the  very  time  that  we  are 
trying  with  great  confidence  to  reduce  the  cost 
of  living  and  are  able  to  say  that  is  actually 
beginning  to  fall. 

I  am  aware  that  railway  employees  have  a 
sense  of  insecurity  as  to  the  future  of  the  rail 
roads  and  have  many  misgivings  as  to  whether 
their  interests  will  be  properly  safeguarded 
when  the  present  form  of  Federal  control  has 
come  to  an  end.  No  doubt  it  is  in  part  this 
sense  of  uncertainty  that  prompts  them  to 
insist  that  their  wage  interests  be  adjusted 
now,  rather  than  under  conditions  which  they 
cannot  certainly  foresee.  But  I  do  not  think 
that  their  uneasiness  is  well  grounded. 

I  anticipate  that  legislation  dealing  with  the 
future  of  the  railroads  will,  in  explicit  terms, 
afford  adequate  protection  for  the  interests  of 
the  employees  of  the  roads;  but,  quite  apart 
from  that,  it  is  clear  that  no  legislation  can 
make  the  railways  other  than  what  they  are — 
a  great  public  interest — and  it  is  not  likely 
that  the  President  of  the  United  States, 
whether  in  the  possession  and  control  of  the 
railroads  or  not,  will  lack  opportunity  or  per- 


58         THE  HOPE  OF  THE  WORLD 

suasive  force  to  influence  the  decision  of  ques 
tions  arising  between  the  managers  of  the  rail 
roads  and  railway  employees.  The  employees 
may  rest  assured  that,  during  my  term  of  office, 
whether  I  am  in  actual  possession  of  the  rail 
roads  or  not,  I  shall  not  fail  to  exert  the  full 
influence  of  the  Executive  to  see  that  justice  is 
done  them. 

I  believe,  therefore,  that  they  may  be  justi 
fied  in  the  confidence  that  hearty  co-operation 
with  the  government  now  in  its  efforts  to  re 
duce  the  cost  of  living  will  by  no  means  be 
prejudicial  to  their  own  interests,  but  will,  on 
the  contrary,  prepare  the  way  for  more  favor 
able  and  satisfactory  relations  in  the  future. 

I  confidently  count  on  their  co-operation  in 
this  time  of  national  test  and  crisis. 


VI 

ECONOMY  THE  WATCHWORD 
(WASHINGTON,  August  31,  1919) 

The  President's  Labor  Day  message  read  as 
follows: 

MY  FELLOW-CITIZENS:  I  am  encouraged 
and  gratified  by  the  progress  which  is  being 
made  in  controlling  the  cost  of  living.  The 
support  of  the  movement  is  widespread  and  I 
confidently  look  for  substantial  results,  al 
though  I  must  counsel  patience  as  well  as 
vigilance,  because  such  results  will  not  come 
instantly  or  without  team-work. 

Let  me  again  emphasize  my  appeal  to  every 
citizen  of  the  country  to  continue  to  give  his 
personal  support  in  this  matter,  and  to  make 
it  as  active  as  possible.  Let  him  not  only  re 
frain  from  doing  anything  which  at  the  mo 
ment  will  tend  to  increase  the  cost  of  living, 
but  let  him  do  all  in  his  power  to  increase  the 
production;  and,  further  than  that,  let  him 
at  the  same  time  himself  carefully  economize 
in  the  matter  of  consumption,  By  common 


60         THE  HOPE  OF  THE  WORLD 

action  in  this  direction  we  shall  overcome  a 
danger  greater  than  the  danger  of  war.  We 
will  hold  steady  a  situation  which  is  fraught 
with  possibilities  of  hardship  and  suffering  to 
a  large  part  of  our  population ;  we  will  enable 
the  processes  of  production  to  overtake  the 
processes  of  consumption;  and  we  will  speed 
the  restoration  of  an  adequate  purchasing 
power  for  wages. 

I  am  particularly  gratified  at  the  support 
which  the  government's  policy  has  received 
from  the  representatives  of  organized  labor, 
and  I  earnestly  hope  that  the  workers  generally 
will  emphatically  indorse  the  position  of  their 
leaders  and  thereby  move  with  the  govern 
ment  instead  of  against  it  in  the  solution  of 
this  greatest  domestic  problem. 

I  am  calling  for  as  early  a  date  as  practicable 
a  conference  in  which  authoritative  representa 
tives  of  labor  and  of  those  who  direct  labor 
will  discuss  fundamental  means  of  bettering 
the  whole  relationship  of  capital  and  labor  and 
putting  the  whole  question  of  wages  upon 
another  footing. 


VII 

A  REPORT  TO  THE  PEOPLE 
(COLUMBUS,  OHIO,  September  4, 

In  his  address  here  to-day  President  Wilson 
said: 

IT  is  with  very  profound  pleasure  that  I  find 
myself  face  to  face  with  you.  I  have  for  a 
long  time  chafed  at  the  confinement  of  Wash 
ington.  I  have  for  a  long  time  wished  to  fulfil 
the  purpose  with  which  my  heart  was  full  when 
I  returned  to  our  beloved  country,  namely,  to 
go  out  and  report  to  my  fellow-countrymen 
concerning  those  affairs  of  the  world  which 
now  need  to  be  settled. 

The  only  people  I  owe  any  report  to  are  you 
and  the  other  citizens  of  the  United  States, 
and  it  has  become  increasingly  necessary,  ap 
parently,  that  I  should  report  to  you.  After 
all  the  various  angles  at  which  you  have  heard 
the  treaty  held  up  perhaps  you  would  like  to 
know  what  is  in  the  treaty.  I  find  it  very 
difficult  in  reading  some  of  the  speeches  that  I 
have  read  to  form  any  conception  of  that 
great  document. 


62         THE  HOPE  OF  THE  WORLD 

It  is  a  document  unique  in  the  history  of  the 
world  for  many  reasons,  and  I  think  I  cannot 
do  you  a  better  service  or  the  peace  of  the 
world  a  better  sendee  than  by  pointing  out  to 
you  just  what  this  treaty  contains  and  what 
it  seeks  to  do. 

In  the  first  place,  my  fellow-countrymen,  it 
seeks  to  punish  one  of  the  greatest  wrongs  ever 
done  in  history,  the  wrong  which  Germain- 
sought  to  do  to  the  world  and  to  civilization, 
and  there  ought  to  be  no  weak  purpose  with 
regard  to  the  application  of  the  punishment. 
She  attempted  an  intolerable  thing,  and  she 
must  be  made  to  pay  for  the  attempt. 

The  terms  of  the  treaty  are  severe,  but  they 
are  not  unjust.  I  can  testify  that  the  men 
associated  with  me  at  the  Peace  Conference  in 
Paris  had  it  in  their  hearts  to  do  justice  and 
not  wrong,  but  they  knew,  perhaps  with  a  more 
vivid  sense  of  what  had  happened  than  we 
could  possibly  know  on  this  side  of  the  water, 
the  many  solemn  covenants  which  Germany 
had  disregarded,  the  long  preparation  she  had 
made  to  overwhelm  her  neighbors,  the  utter 
disregard  which  she  had  shown  for  human 
rights,  for  the  rights  of  women  and  children 
and  those  who  were  helpless. 

They  hatl  seen  their  lands  devastated  by  an 
enemy  that  devoted  itself  not  only  to  the 
effort  of  victory,  but  to  the  effort  of  terror, 
seeking  to  terrify  the  people  whom  they  fought, 


A  REPORT  TO  THE  PEOPLE         63 

and  I  wish  to  testify  that  they  exercised  re 
straint  in  the  terms  of  this  treaty.  They  did 
not  wish  to  overwhelm  any  great  nation,  and 
they  had  no  purpose  in  overwhelming  the  Ger 
man  people,  but  they  did  think  that  it  ought 
to  be  burned  into  the  consciousness  of  men 
forever  that  no  people  ought  to  permit  its 
government  to  do  what  the  German  govern 
ment  did. 

In  the  last  analysis,  my  fellow-countrymen, 
as  we  in  America  would  be  the  first  to  claim,  a 
people  are  responsible  for  the  acts  of  their 
government;  if  their  government  purposes 
things  that  are  wrong,  they  ought  to  take 
measures  and  see  to  it  that  that  purpose  is  not 
executed. 

Germany  was  self -governed.  Her  rulers 
had  not  concealed  the  purposes  that  they  had 
in  mind,  but  they  had  deceived  their  people 
as  to  the  character  of  the  methods  they  were 
going  to  use,  and  I  believe  from  what  I  can 
learn  that  there  is  an  awakened  consciousness 
in  Germany  itself  of  the  deep  iniquity  of  the 
thing  that  was  attempted. 

When  the  Austrian  delegates  came  before 
the  Peace  Conference  they,  in  so  many  words, 
spoke  of  the  origination  of  the  war  as  a  crime, 
and  admitted  in  our  presence  that  it  was  a 
thing  intolerable  to  contemplate.  They  knew 
in  their  hearts  that  it  had  done  them  the 
deepest  conceivable  wrong;  that  it  had  put 


64        THE  HOPE  OF  THE  WORLD 

their  people  and  the  people  of  Germany  at  the 
judgment  seat  of  mankind,  and  throughout 
this  treaty  every  term  that  was  applied  to  Ger 
many  was  meant  not  to  humiliate  Germany, 
but  to  rectify  the  wrong  that  she  had  done. 

And  if  you  will  look  even  into  the  severe 
terms  of  reparation,  for  there  was  no  indemnity 
— no  indemnity  of  any  sort  was  claimed — 
merely  reparation — merely  paying  for  the  de 
struction  done,  merely  making  good  the  losses, 
so  far  as  the  losses  could  be  made  good, 
which  she  had  unjustly  inflicted,  not  upon 
the  governments  (for  the  reparation  is  not 
to  go  to  the  governments),  but  upon  the 
people  whose  rights  she  had  trodden  upon, 
with  absolute  absence  of  everything  that  even 
resembled  pity 

There  is  no  indemnity  in  this  treaty,  but 
there  is  reparation,  and  even  in  the  terms  of 
reparation  a  method  is  devised  by  which  the 
reparation  shall  be  adjusted  to  Germany's 
ability  to  pay  it. 

I  am  astonished  at  some  of  the  statements  I 
see  made  about  this  treaty,  and  the  truth  is 
that  they  are  made  by  persons  who  have  not 
read  the  treaty  or  who,  if  they  have  read  it, 
have  not  comprehended  its  meaning. 

There  is  a  method  of  adjustment  in  the 
treaty  by  which  the  reparation  shall  not  be 
pressed  beyond  the  point  which  Germany  can 
pay,  but  she  will  be  pressed  to  the  utmost 


A  REPORT  TO  THE  PEOPLE        6$ 

point  that  she  can  pay,  which  is  just,  which  is 
righteous.  It  would  be  intolerable  if  there 
had  been  anything  else,  for,  my  fellow-citizens, 
this  treaty  is  not  meant  merely  to  end  this 
single  war;  it  is  meant  as  a  notice  to  every 
government  who  in  the  future  will  attempt 
this  thing  that  mankind  will  unite  to  inflict 
the  same  punishment. 

There  is  no  national  triumph  sought  to  be 
recorded  in  this  treaty.  There  is  no  glory 
sought  for  any  particular  nation.  The  thought 
of  the  statesmen  collected  around  that  table 
was  of  their  people,  of  the  sufferings  that  they 
had  gone  through,  of  the  losses  they  had  in 
curred,  that  great  throbbing  heart  which  was 
so  depressed,  so  forlorn,  so  sad  in  every 
memory  that  it  had  had  of  the  five  tragical 
years,  my  fellow-countrymen.  Let  us  never 
forget  the  purpose,  the  high  purpose,  the  dis 
interested  purpose,  with  which  America  lent 
its  strength,  not  for  its  own  glory,  but  for  the 
advance  of  mankind. 

AiiJ,  :.s  I  ooid,  this  treaty  was  not  intended 
merely  to  end  this  war;  it  was  intended  to 
prevent  any  similar  war. 

I  wonder  if  some  of  the  opponents  of  the 
League  of  Nations  have  forgotten  the  promises 
we  made  our  people  before  we  went  to  that 
peace  table.  We  had  taken  by  processes  of 
law  the  flower  of  our  youth  from  every  country 
side,  from  every  household,  and  we  told  those 


66         THE  HOPE  OF  THE  WORLD 

mothers  and  fathers  and  sisters  and  wives  and 
sweethearts  that  we  were  taking  those  men  to 
fight  a  war  which  would  end  business  of  that 
sort,  and  if  we  do  not  end  it,  if  we  do  not  do 
the  best  that  human  concert  of  action  can  do 
to  end  it,  we  are  of  all  men  the  most  unfaithful 
— the  most  unfaithful  to  the  loving  hearts  who 
suffered  in  this  war,  the  most  unfaithful  to 
those  households  bowed  in  grief,  yet  lifted  with 
the  feeling  that  the  lad  laid  down  his  life  for  a 
great  thing — among  other  things  in  order  that 
other  lads  might  not  have  to  do  the  same 
thing. 

That  is  what  the  League  of  Nations  is  for, 
to  end  this  war  justly,  and  it  is  not  merely  to 
serve  notice  on  governments  which  would 
contemplate  the  same  thing  which  Germany 
contemplated,  that  they  will  do  so  at  their 
peril,  but  also  concerning  the  combination  of 
power  which  will  prove  to  them  that  they  will 
do  it  at  their  peril.  It  is  idle  to  say  the  world 
will  combine  against  you  because  it  may  not, 
but  it  is  persuasive  to  say  the  world  is  com 
bined  against  you  and  will  remain  combined 
against  any  who  attempt  the  same  things  that 
you  attempted. 

The  League  of  Nations  is  the  only  thing  that 
can  prevent  the  recurrence  of  this  dreadful 
catastrophe  and  redeem  our  promises.  And 
the  character  of  the  League  is  based  upon  the 
experience  of  this  very  war. 


A  REPORT  TO  THE  PEOPLE         67 

I  did  not  meet  a  single  public  man  who  did 
not  admit  these  things — that  Germany  would 
not  have  gone  into  this  war  if  she  had  thought 
Great  Britain  was  going  into  it,  and  that  she 
most  certainly  would  never  have  gone  into 
this  war  if  she  had  dreamed  America  was  going 
into  it,  and  they  have  all  admitted  that  a  notice 
beforehand  that  the  greatest  powers  of  the 
world  would  combine  to  prevent  this  sort  of 
thing  would  have  prevented  it  absolutely. 

When  gentlemen  tell  you,  therefore,  that  the 
League  of  Nations  is  intended  for  some  other 
purpose  than  this,  merely  reply  this  to  them, 
' '  If  we  do  not  do  this  thing,  we  have  neglected 
the  central  covenant  that  we  made  to  our 
people,"  and  there  will  be  no  statesman  of  any 
country  who  can  thereafter  promise  his  people 
any  alleviation  from  the  perils  of  war. 

The  passions  of  this  world  are  not  dead ;  the 
rivalries  of  this  world  have  not  cooled;  they 
have  been  rendered  hotter  than  ever.  The 
harness  that  is  to  unite  nations  is  more  neces 
sary  now  than  it  ever  was  before,  and  unless 
there  is  this  sureness  of  combined  action  before 
wrong  is  attempted,  wrong  will  be  attempted 
just  as  soon  as  the  most  ambitious  nations 
can  recover  from  the  financial  stress  of  this  war. 
*Now  look  what  else  is  in  the  treaty.  This 
treaty  is  unique  in  the  history  of  mankind 
because  the  center  of  it  is  the  redemption  of 

weak  nations. 
6 


68         THE  HOPE  OF  THE  WORLD 

f  There  never  was  a  congress  of  nations  before 
that  considered  the  rights  of  those  who  could 
not  enforce  their  rights.  There  never  was  a 
congress  of  nations  before  that  did  not  seek 
to  effect  some  balance  of  power  brought  about 
by  means  of  serving  the  strength  and  interest 
of  the  strongest  powers  concerned,  whereas 
this  treaty  builds  up  nations  that  never  could 
have  won  their  freedom  in  any  other  way.  It 
builds  them  up  by  gift,  by^la-r-gess,  not  by 
obligation;  builds  them  up  because  of  the 
conviction  of  the  men  who  wrote  the  treaty 
that  the  rights  of  people  transcend  the  rights 
of  governments,  because  of  the  conviction  of 
the  men  who  wrote  that  treaty  that  the  fertile 
source  of  war  is  wrong ;  that  the  Austro -Hun 
garian  Empire,  for  example,  was  held  together 
by  military  force  and  consisted  of  peoples  who 
did  not  want  to  live  together;  who  did  not 
have  the  spirit  of  nationality  as  toward  each 
other;  who  were  constantly  chafing  at  the 
bands  that  held  them. 

Hungary,  though  a  willing  partner  of  Aus 
tria,  was  willing  to  be  her  partner  because  she 
could  share  Austria's  strength  for  accomplish 
ing  her  own  ambitions,  and  her  own  ambitions 
were  to  hold  under  the  Jugoslavic  peoples  that 
lie  to  the  south  of  her.  Bohemia,  an  unhappy 
partner — a  partner  by  duress,  flowing  in  all  her 
veins  the  strongest  national  impulse  that  was 
to  be  found  anywhere  in  Europe;  and  north 


A  REPORT  TO  THE  PEOPLE         69 

of  that  pitiful  Poland,  a  great  nation  divided 
up  among  the  great  powers  of  Europe,  torn 
asunder — kinship  disregarded,  natural  ties 
treated  with  contempt  and  an  obligatory  di 
vision  among  sovereigns  imposed  upon  her, 
a  part  of  her  given  to  Russia,  a  part  of  her 
given  to  Austria,  and  a  part  of  her  given  to 
Germany,  and  great  bodies  of  Polish  people 
never  permitted  to  have  the  normal  intercourse 
with  their  kinsmen  for  fear  that  that  fine  in 
stinct  of  the  heart  should  assert  itself  which 
binds  families  together. 

Poland  could  never  have  won  her  indepen 
dence.  Bohemia  never  could  have  broken 
away  from  the  Austro-Hungarian  combina 
tion.  The  Slavic  peoples  to  the  south,  running 
down  into  the  great  Balkan  peninsula,  had 
again  and  again  tried  to  assert  their  nation 
ality  and  their  independence,  and  had  as  often 
been  crushed,  not  by  the  immediate  power 
they  were  fighting,  but  by  the  combined  power 
of  Europe. 

-The  old  alliances,  the  old  balances  of  power, 
were  meant  to  see  to  it  that  no  little  nation 
asserted  its  rights  to  the  disturbance  of  the 
peace  of  Europe,  and  every  time  an  assertion 
of  rights  was  attempted  they  were  suppressed 
by  combined  influence  and  force.  And  this 
itreaty  tears  away  all  that  and  says  these 
people  have  a  right  to  live  their  own  lives 
under  the  governments  which  they  themselves 


70         THE  HOPE  OF  THE  WORLD 

choose  to  set  up;  That  is  the  American  prin 
ciple  and  I  was  glad  to  fight  for  it,  and  whei 
strategic  considerations  were  urged  I  said  (no 
I  alone,  but  it  was  a  matter  of  commo; 
council)  that  strategic  conditions  were  not  ii 
our  thoughts;  that  we  were  not  now  arranging 
for  future  wars,  but  were  giving  people  wha 
belonged  to  them. 

My  fellow-citizens,  I  do  not  think  there  i 
any  man  alive  who  has  a  more  tender  sym 
pathy  for  the  great  people  of  Italy  than  I  have 
and  a  very  stern  duty  was  presented  to  us  whei 
we  had  to  consider  some  of  the  claims  of  Itab 
on  the  Adriatic,  because  strategically,  fron 
the  point  of  view  of  future  wars,  Italy  needec 
a  military  foothold  on  the  other  side  of  th< 
Adriatic,  but  her  people  did  not  live  then 
except  in  little  spots.  It  was  a  Slavic  people 
and  I  had  to  say  to  my  Italian  friends  tha' 
everywhere  else 'in  this  treaty  we  have  giver 
territory  to  the  people  who  lived  on  it,  and  J 
do  not  think  that  it  is  for  the  advantage  o 
Italy,  and  I  am  sure  it  is  not  for  the  advantage 
of  the  world,  to  give  Italy  territory  when 
other  people  live. 

I  felt  the  force  of  the  argument  for  whal 
they  wanted,  and  it  was  the  old  argument  thai 
had  always  prevailed,  namely,  that  the) 
needed  it  from  a  military  point  of  view,  anc 
I  have  no  doubt  that  if  there  is  no  League  o 
Nations  they  will  need  it  from  a  militar 


A  REPORT  TO  THE   PEOPLE         71 

point  of  view.  But  if  there  is  a  League  of 
Nations  they  will  not  need  it  from  a  military 
point  of  view.  If  there  is  no  League  of  Na 
tions  the  military  point  of  view  will  prevail  in 
every  instance  and  peace  will  be  brought  into 
contempt,  but  if  there  is  a  League  of  Nations 
Italy  need  not  fear  the  fact  that  the  shores  on 
the  other  side  of  the  Adriatic  lower  above  her 
sandy  shores  on  her  side  of  the  sea,  because 
there  will  be  no  threatening  guns  there,  and 
the  nations  of  the  world  will  have  considered 
not  merely  to  see  that  the  Slavic  peoples  have 
itheir  rights  but  that  the  Italian  people  have 
itheir  rights  as  well.  I  would  rather  have 
•everybody  on  my  side  than  be  armed  to  the 
teeth;  and  every  settlement  that  is  right, 
pvery  settlement  that  is  based  upon  the  prin- 
piples  I  have  alluded  to,  is  a  safe  settlement 
because  the  sympathy  of  mankind  will  be 
JDehind  it. 

Some  gentlemen  have  feared  with  regard  to 
);he  League  of  Nations  that  we  will  be  obliged 
jo  do  things  we  don't  want  to  do.  If  the 
treaty  were  wrong,  that  might  be  so;  but  if  the 
Ireaty  is  right,  we  will  wish  to  preserve  right. 
1  think  I  know  the  heart  of  this  great  people, 
jv'hom  I  for  the  time  being  have  the  high  honor 
o  represent,  better  than  some  other  men  that 

hear  talk. 

I  have  been  bred  and  am  proud  to  have 
een  bred^in  the  old  Revolutionary  stock  which 


72         THE  HOPE  OF  THE  WORLD 

set  this  government  up  when  America  was 
set  up  as  a  friend  of  mankind,  and  I  know,  if 
they  do  not,  that  America  has  never  lost  that 
vision  or  that  purpose. 

But  I  haven't  the  slightest  fear  that  arms 
will  be  necessary  if  the  purpose  is  there.  If  I 
know  that  my  adversary  is  armed  and  I  am 
not,  I  do  not  press  the  controversy;  and  if 
any  nation  entertains  selfish  purposes,  set 
against  the  principles  established  in  this 
treaty,  and  is  told  by  the  rest  of  the  world 
that  it  must  withdraw  its  claims,  it  will  not 
press  them. 

The  heart  of  this  treaty,  then,  my  fellow- 

*  citizens,  is  not  even  that  it  punishes  Germany 
—that  is  a  temporary  thing — it  is  that  it 

.  rectifies  the  age-long  wrong  which  charac 
terized  the  history  of  Europe. 

\  There  were  some  of  us  who  wished  that  the 
scope  of  the  treaty  would  reach  some  other 
age-long  wrong.  It  was  a  big  job,  and  I  don't 
say  that  we  wished  that  it  were  bigger;  but 
there  were  other  wrongs  elsewhere  than  in 
Europe,  and  of  the  same  kind,  which  no  doubt 
ought  to  be  righted,  and  some  day  will  be 
righted,  but  which  we  could  not  draw  into  the 
treaty  because  we  could  deal  only  with  the 
countries  whom  the  war  had  engulfed  and 
affected.  But,  so  far  as  the  scope  of  our  treaty 
went,  we  rectified  the  wrongs  which  have  been 
the  fertile  source  of  war  in  Europe, 


A  REPORT  TO  THE   PEOPLE         73 

Have  you  ever  reflected,  my  fellow-country 
men,  on  the  real  source  of  revolutions?  Men 
don't  start  revolutions  in  a  sudden  passion. 
Do  you  remember  what  Thomas  Carlyle 
said  about  the  French  Revolution?  He  was 
speaking  of  the  so-called  Hundred  Days  of 
Terror  which  reigned,  not  only  in  Paris,  but 
throughout  France,  in  the  days  of  the  French 
Revolution;  and  he  reminded  his  readers 
that  back  of  that  Hundred  Days  of  Terror 
lay  several  hundred  years  of  agony  and  of 
wrong.  The  French  people  had  been  deeply 
and  consistently  wronged  by  their  govern 
ment;  robbed;  their  human  rights  disre 
garded,  and  the  slow  agony  of  those  hundreds 
of  years  had  after  a  while  gathered  into  a  hot 
agony  that  could  not  be  suppressed. 

Revolutions    don't    spring    up    overnight;, 
revolutions  gather  through  the  ages;    revolu- 
tions  come  from  the  long  suppression  of  the 
human  spirit;   revolutions  come  because  men 
know  that  they  have  rights  and  that  they  are ! 
disregarded. 

And  when  we  think  of  the  future  of  the 
world  in  connection  with  this  treaty,  we  must 
remember  that  one  of  the  chief  efforts  of 
those  who  made  this  treaty  was  to  remove  that 
anger  from  the  heart  of  great  peoples — great 
peoples  who  had  always  been  suppressed  and 
always  been  used,  who  had  always  been  the 
tools  in  the  hands  of  governments — generally 


74         THE   HOPE  OF  THE  WORLD 

of  alien  governments — not  their  own.  And 
the  makers  of  the  treaty  knew  that  if  these 
wrongs  were  not  removed,  there  could  be  no 
peace  in  the  world,  because,  after  all,  my 
fellow-citizens,  war  comes  from  the  seed  of 
wrong,  and  not  from  the  seed  of  right.  This 
treaty  is  an  attempt  to  right  the  history  of 
Europe,  and  in  my  humble  judgment  it  is  a 
measurable  success.  I  say  "measurable,"  my 
fellow-citizens,  because  you  will  realize  the 
difficulty  of  this.  Here  are  two  neighboring 
peoples.  The  one  people  have  not  stopped  at 
a  sharp  line,  and  the  settlements  of  the  other 
people,  or  their  migrations,  begun  at  that 
sharp  line;  they  have  intermingled.  There 
are  regions  where  you  can't  draw  a  national 
line  and  say  there  are  Slavs  on  this  side  and 
Italians  on  that ;  there  is  this  people  there  and 
that  people  there.  It  can't  be  done  You 
have  to  approximate  the  line.  You  have  to 
come  to  it,  as  near  to  it  as  you  can,  and  then 
trust  to  the  process  of  history  to  redistribute, 
it  may  be,  the  people  who  are  on  the  wrong 
side  of  the  line.  And  there  are  many  such 
lines  drawn  in  this  treaty  and  to  be  drawn  in 
the  Austrian  treaty,  and  where,  perhaps,  there 
are  more  lines  of  that  sort  than  in  the  German 
treaty. 

When  we  came  to  draw  the  line  between  the 
Polish  people  and  the  German  people  (not  the 
line  between  Germany  and  Poland — there 


A  REPORT  TO  THE   PEOPLE         75' 

wasn't  any  Poland,  strictly  speaking)  there 
were  districts  like  the  upper  part  of  Silesia, 
or  rather  the  eastern  part  of  Silesia,  which  is 
called  "Upper  Silesia"  because  it  is  mountain 
ous  and  the  other  part  is  not.  High  Silesia  is 
chiefly  Polish,  and  when  we  came  to  clraw  a 
line  to  represent  Poland  it  was  necessary  to 
include  High  Silesia  if  we  were  really  going  to 
play  fair  and  make  Poland  up  of  the  Polish 
people  wherever  we  found  them  in  sufficiently 
close  neighborhood  to  one  another. 

But  it  wasn't  perfectly  clear  that  Upper  or 
High  Silesia  wanted  to  be  part  of  Poland. 
At  any  rate,  there  were  Germans  in  High 
Silesia  who  said  that  it  did  not,  and  therefore 
we  did  there  what  we  did  in  many  other 
places — we  said,  "Very  well,  then,  we  will  let 
the  people  that  live  there  decide." 

We  will  have  a  referendum  within  a  certain 
length  of  time  after  the  war  under  the  super 
vision  of  an  international  commission  which 
will  have  a  sufficient  armed  force  behind  it  to 
preserve  order  and  see  that  nobody  interferes 
with  the  elections.  We  will  have  an  absolutely 
free  vote,  and  High  Silesia  shall  go  either  to 
Germany  or  to  Poland,  as  the  people  in  High 
Silesia  prefer. 

And  that  illustrates  many  other  cases  where 
we  provided  for  a  referendum,  or  a  plebiscite, 
as  they  choose  to  call  it;  and  are  going  to 
leave  it  to  the  people  themselves,  as  we  should 


76         THE  HOPE  OF  THE  WORLD 

have  done,  what  government  they  shall  live 
under. 

It  is  none  of  my  prerogatives  to  allot  peoples 
to  this  government  and  the  other.  It  is  no 
body's  right  to  do  that  allotting  except  the 
people  themselves,  and  I  want  to  testify  that 
this  treaty  is  shot  through  with  the  American 
principle  of  the  choice  of  the  governed. 

Of  course,  at  times  it  went  farther  than  we 
could  make  a  practical  policy  of,  because  vari 
ous  peoples  were  keen  upon  getting  back  por 
tions  of  their  populations  which  were  separated 
from  them  by  many  miles  of  territory,  and  we 
could  not  spot  over  with  little  pieces  of 
separated  states. 

I  even  had  to  remind  my  Italian  colleagues 
that  if  they  were  going  to  claim  every  place 
where  there  was  a  large  Italian  population  we 
would  have  to  cede  New  York  to  them,  be 
cause  there  are  more  Italians  in  New  York 
than  in  any  Italian  city. 

But  I  believe — I  hope — that  the  Italians  in 
New  York  City  are  as  glad  to  stay  there  as  we 
are  to  have  them.  I  would  not  have  you  sup 
pose  that  I  am  intimating  that  my  Italian  col 
leagues  entered  any  claim  for  New  York  City. 

We,  of  all  peoples  in  the  world,  my  fellow- 
citizens,  ought  to  be  able  to  understand  the 
questions  of  this  treaty  and  without  anybody 
explaining  them  to  us ;  for  we  are  made  up  out 
of  all  the  peoples  of  the  world,  I  dare  say 


A  REPORT  TO  THE  PEOPLE         77 

that  in  this  audience  there  are  representatives 
of  practically  all  the  peoples  dealt  with  in  this 
treaty. 

You  don't  have  to  have  me  explain  national 
ambitions  to  you,  national  aspirations.  You 
have  been  brought  up  to  them;  you  learned 
of  them  since  you  were  children,  and  it  is 
those  national  aspirations  which  we  sought  to 
realize,  to  give  an  outlet  to,  in  this  great 
treaty. 

;cBut  we  do  much  more  than  that.  This 
treaty  contains,  among  other  things,  a  Magna 
Charta  of  labor — a  thing  unheard  of  until  this 
interesting  year  of  grace.  There  is  a  whole 
section  of  the  treaty  devoted  to  arrangements 
by  which  the  interests  of  those  who  labor 
with  their  hands  all  over  the  world,  whether 
they  be  men  or  women  or  children,  are  all  of 
them  to  be  safeguarded.  And  next  month 
there  is  to  meet  the  first  assembly  under  this 
section  of  the  League — and  let  me  tell  you  it 
will  meet,  whether  the  treaty  is  ratified  by 
that  time  or  not. 

There  is  to  meet  an  assembly  which  repre 
sents  the  interests  of  laboring  men  throughout 
the  world,  not  their  political  interests.  There 
is  nothing  political  about  it.  It  is  the  interests 
of  men  concerning  the  conditions  of  their 
labor,  concerning  the  character  of  labor  which 
women  shall  engage  in,  the  character  of  labor 
which  children  shall  be  permitted  to  engage  in ; 


78         THE  HOPE  OF  THE  WORLD 

the  hours  of  labor,  and,  incidentally,  of  course, 
the  remuneration  of  labor.  The  labor  shall  be 
remunerated  in  proportion,  of  course,  to  the 
maintenance  of  the  standard  of  living  which  is 
proper  for  the  man  who  is  expected  to  give 
his  whole  brain  and  intelligence  and  energy  to 
a  particular  task. 

I  hear  very  little  said  about  this  Magna 
Charta  of  labor  which  is  embodied  in  this.  It 
forecasts  the  day  which  ought  to  have  come 
long  ago,  when  statesmen  will  realize  that  no 
nation  is  fortunate  which  is  not  happy,  and 
that  no  nation  can  be  happy  whose  people  are 
not  contented — contented  in  their  industry, 
contented  in  their  lives,  and  fortunate  in  the 
circumstances  of  their  lives. 

If  I  were  to  state  what  seems  to  me  to  be 
the  central  idea  of  this  treaty  it  would  be  this : 
It  is  almost  a  discovery  in  international  con 
ventions  "that  nations  do  not  consist  of  their 
government,  but  consist  of  their  people." 

That  is  a  rudimentary  idea;  it  seems  to  go 
without  saying  to  us  in  America;  but,  my 
fellow-citizens,  it  was  never  the  leading  idea 
in  any  other  international  congress  that  I  ever 
heard  of — that  is  to  say,  international  con 
gress  made  up  of  the  representatives  of 
government. 

They  were  always  thinking  of  national  pol 
icy,  of  national  advantages,  of  the  rivalries  of 
trade,  of  the  advantages  of  territorial  conquest. 


A  REPORT  TO  THE   PEOPLE         79 

There  is  nothing  of  that  in  this  treaty. 
You  will  notice  that  even  the  territories  which 
are  taken  away  from  Germany,  like  her  col 
onies,  are  not  given  to  anybody.  There  isn't 
a  single  act  of  annexation  in  this  treaty.  But 
territories  inhabited  by  people  not  yet  able  to 
govern  themselves,  either  because  of  economic 
or  other  circumstances  or  the  stage  of  their 
development,  are  put  under  the  care  of  powers 
who  are  to  accept  as  trustees — trustees  respon 
sible  in  the  forum  of  the  world,  at  the  bar  of 
the  League  of  Nations,  and  the  terms  upon 
which  they  are  to  exercise  their  trusteeship 
are  outlined.  They  are  not  to  use  those 
people  by  way  of  profit  and  to  fight  their 
wars  for  them;  they  are  not  to  permit  any 
form  of  slavery  among  them  or  of  enforced 
labor.  They  are  to  see  to  it  that  there  are 
humane  conditions  of  labor  with  regard  not 
only  to  the  women  and  children,  but  the  men, 
too.  They  are  to  establish  no  fortifications; 
they  are  to  regulate  the  liquor  and  opium 
traffic;  they  are  to  see  to  it,  in  other  words, 
that  the  lives  of  the  people  whose  care  they 
assume — not  sovereignty  over  whom  they  as 
sume,  but  whose  care  they  assume — are  kept 
clean  and  safe  and  holy. 

There  again  the  principle  of  the  treaty 
comes  out,  that  the  object  of  the  arrangement 
is  the  welfare  of  the  people  who  live  there  and 
not  the  advantages  of  the  government. 


8o         THE  HOPE  OF  THE  WORLD 

It  goes  beyond  that,  and  it  seeks  to  gather 
under  the  common  supervision  of  the  League  of 
Nations  the  various  instrumentalities  by  which 
the  world  has  been  trying  to  check  the  evils 
that  were  in  some  places  debasing  men,  like 
the  opium  traffic,  like  the  traffic — for  it  was  a 
traffic — in  men,  women,  and  children ;  like  the 
traffic  in  other  dangerous  drugs ;  like  the  traffic 
in  arms  among  uncivilized  peoples,  who  could 
use  arms  only  for  their  detriment ;  for  sanita 
tion  ;  for  the  work  of  the  Red  Cross. 

Why,  those  clauses,  my  fellow-citizens,  draw 
the  hearts  of  the  world  into  league;  draw  the 
noble  impulses  of  the  world  together  and  make 
a  poem  of  them. 

I  used  to  be  told  that  this  was  an  age  in 
which  mind  was  monarch,  and  my  comment 
was  that  if  that  were  true  then  mind  was  one 
of  those  modern  monarchs  that  reign  and  do 
not  govern;  but  as  a  matter  of  fact  we  were 
governed  by  a  great  representative  assembly, 
made  up  of  the  human  passions,  and  that  the 
best  we  could  manage  was  that  the  high  and 
fine  passions  should  be  in  a  majority,  so  that 
they  could  control  the  face  of  passion,  so  that 
they  could  check  the  things  that  were  wrong, 
and  this  treaty  seeks  something  like  that. 

In  drawing  the  humane  endeavors  together 
it  makes  a  mirror  of  the  fine  passions  of  the 
world,  of  its  philanthropic  passions,  and  of  its 
passion  of  pity,  of  this  passion  of  human  sym- 


A  REPORT  TO  THE  PEOPLE         81 

pathy,  of  this  passion  of  human  friendliness 
and  helpfulness,  for  there  is  such  a  passion. 
It  is  the  passion  that  has  lifted  us  along  the 
slow  road  of  civilization ;  it  is  the  passion  that 
has  made  ordered  government  possible;  it  is 
the  passion  that  has  made  justice  and  estab 
lished  the  thing  in  some  happy  part  of  the 
world. 

That  is  the  treaty.  Did  you  ever  hear  of  it 
before?  Did  you  ever  know  before  what  was 
in  this  treaty?  Did  anybody  before  ever  tell 
you  what  the  treaty  was  intended  to  do? 

I  beg,  my  fellow-citizens,  that  you  and  the 
rest  of  these  Americans  with  whom  we  are 
happy  to  be  associated  all  over  this  broad  land 
will  read  the  treaty  for  themselves,  or  (if  they 
won't  take  time  to  do  that,  for  it  is  a  technical 
document  that  is  hard  to  read)  that  they  will 
accept  the  interpretation  of  those  who  made 
it  and  know  what  the  intentions  were  in  the 
making  of  it. 

I  hear  a  great  deal,  my  fellow-citizens,  about 
the  selfishness  and  the  selfish  ambitions  of 
other  governments,  but  I  would  not  be  doing 
justice  to  the  gifted  men  with  whom  I  was 
associated  on  the  other  side  of  the  water  if  I 
didn't  testify  that  the  purposes  that  I  have 
outlined  were  their  purposes. 

We  differed  as  to  the  method  very  often; 
we  had  discussions  as  to  the  details,  but  we 
never  had  any  serious  discussion  as  to  the  prin- 


82         THE  HOPE  OF  THE  WORLD 

ciples.  And  while  we  all  acknowledge  that  the 
principles  might,  perhaps,  in  detail  have  been 
better,  really  we  are  all  back  of  those  principles. 

There  is  a  concert  of  mind  and  of  purpose 
and  of  policy  in  the  world  that  was  never  in 
existence  before.  I  am  not  saying  that  by 
way  of  credit  to  myself  or  to  those  colleagues 
to  whom  I  have  alluded,  because  what  hap 
pened  to  us  was  that  'we  got  messages  from  ouru 
people;  we  were  there  under  instructions! 
whether  they  were  written  down  or  not,  as  we 
didn't  dare  come  home  without  fulfilling  those 
instructions. 

If  I  could  not  have  brought  back  the  kind  of 
treaty  I  brought  back  I  never  would  have  come 
back,  because  I  would  have  been  an  unfaithful 
servant  and  you  would  have  had  the  right  to 
condemn  me  in  any  way  that  you  chose  to  use. 
So  that  I  testify  that  this  is  an  American 
treaty,  not  only,  but  it  is  a  treaty  that  ex 
presses  the  heart  of  the  peoples — of  the  great 
peoples  who  were  associated  together  in  the 
war  against  Germany. 

I  said  at  the  opening  of  this  informal  ad 
dress,  my  fellow-citizens,  that  I  had  come  to 
make  a  report  to  you.  I  want  to  add  to  that 
a  little  bit.  I  have  not  come  to  debate  the 
treaty.  It  speaks  for  itself  if  you  will  let  it. 
The  arguments  directed  against  it  are  directed 
against  it  with  a  radical  misunderstanding  of 
the  instrument  itself.  Therefore,  I  am  not 


A  REPORT  TO  THE  PEOPLE         83 

going  anywhere  to  debate  the  treaty.  I  am 
going  to  expound  it  and  I  am  going,  right  here 
now  to-day,  to  urge  you,  in  every  vocal 
method  that  you  can  use,  to  assert  the  spirit 
of  the  American  people  in  support  of  it. 
Don't  let  them  pull  it  down.  Don't  let  them 
misrepresent  it.  Don't  let  them  lead  this 
nation  away  from  the  high  purposes  with 
which  this  war  was  inaugurated  and  fought. 

As  I  came  through  that  line  of  youngsters 
in  khaki  a  few  minutes  ago  I  felt  that  I  could 
salute  it  because  I  had  done  the  job  in  the  way 
I  promised  them  I  would  do  it,  and  when  the 
treaty  is  accepted  men  in  khaki  will  not  have 
to  cross  the  seas  again. 

That  is  the  reason  I  believe  in  it.  I  say 
"when  it  is  accepted,"  for  it  will  be  accepted. 
I  have  never  entertained  a  moment's  doubt  of 
that,  and  the  only  thing  I  have  been  impatient 
of  has  been  the  delay.  It  is  not  a  dangerous 
delay,  except  for  the  temper  of  the  peoples 
scattered  throughout  the  world  who  are 
waiting. 

Do  you  realize,  my  fellow-citizens,  that  the 
whole  world  is  waiting  on  America?  The 
only  country  in  the  world  that  is  trusted  at  this 
moment  is  the  United  States,  and  they  are 
waiting  to  see  whether  their  trust  is  justified 
or  not. 

That  has  been  the  ground  of  my  impatience. 
I  knew  their  trust  was  justified,  but  I  begrudge 


84        THE  HOPE  OF  THE  WORLD 

the  time  th~/:  certain  gentlemen  oblige  us  to 
take  in  telling  them  so.  We  shall  tell  them  so 
in  a  voice  as  authentic  as  any  voice  in  history, 
and  in  the  years  to  come  men  will  be  glad  to 
remember  that  they  had  some  part  in  the  great 
struggle  which  brought  this  incomparable 
consummation  of  the  hopes  of  mankind. 


VIII 

A  DEFENSE  OF  ARTICLE  X 
(INDIANAPOLIS,  September  4,  1919) 

The  President  spoke  in  part  as  j allows: 

So  great  a  company  as  this  tempts  me  to 
make  a  speech  [laughter  and  applause],  and 
yet  I  want  to  say  to  you  in  all  seriousness  and 
soberness  that  I  have  not  come  here  to  make  a 
speech  in  the  ordinary  sense  of  that  term. 

I  have  come  upon  a  very  sober  errand  in 
deed.  I  have  come  to  report  to  you  upon  the 
work  which  the  representatives  of  the  United 
States  attempted  to  do  at  the  conference  of 
peace  on  the  other  side  of  the  sea,  because  I 
realize,  my  fellow-citizens,  that  my  colleagues 
and  I,  in  the  task  we  attempted  over  there, 
were  your  servants.  We  went  there  with  a 
distinct  errand,  which  it  was  our  duty  to 
perform  in  the  spirit  which  you  have  dis 
played  in  the  prosecution  of  the  war  and  in 
conceiving  the  purposes  and  objects  of  that 
war. 

You  have  heard  a  great  deal  about  Article 


86        THE  HOPE  OF  THE  WORLD 

X  of  the  Covenant  of  the  League  of  Nations. 
Article  X  speaks  the  conscience  of  the  world. 
Article  X  is  the  article  which  goes  to  the  heart 
of  this  whole  bad  business,  for  that  article 
says  that  the  members  of  this  League  (and 
that  is  intended  to  be  all  the  great  nations  of 
the  world)  engage  to  resist  and  to  preserve 
against  all  external  aggression  the  territorial 
integrity  and  political  independence  of  the  na 
tions  concerned.  That  promise  is  necessary  in 
order  to  prevent  this  sort  of  war  recurring,  and 
we  are  absolutely  discredited  if  we  fought  this 
war  and  then  neglect  the  essential  safeguard 
against  it. 

You  have  heard  it  said,  my  fellow-citizens, 
that  we  are  robbed  of  some  degree  of  our 
sovereign  independence  of  choice  by  articles 
of  that  sort.  Every  man  who  makes  *  a  choice 
to  respect  the  rights  of  his  neighbors  deprives 
himself  of  absolute  sovereignty,  but  he  does  it 
by  promising  never  to  do  wrong,  and  I  cannot, 
for  one,  see  anything  that,  robs  me  of  any 
inherent  right  that  I  ought  to  retain  when  I 
promise  that  I  will  do  right. 

We  engage,  in  the  first  sentence  of  Article  X, 
to  respect  and  preserve  from  external  aggres 
sion  the  territorial  integrity  and  the  existing 
political  independence,  not  only  of  the  other 
states,  but  of  all  states,  and  if  any  member  of 
the  League  of  Nations  disregards  that  promise, 
then  what  happens?  The  Council  of  the 


A  DEFENSE  OF  ARTICLE  X         87 

League  advises  what  should  be  done  to  enforce 
the  respect  for  that  covenant  on  the  part  of 
the  nation  attempting  to  violate  it.  And 
there  is  no  compulsion  upon  us  to  take  that 
advice — except  the  compulsion  of  our  good 
conscience  and  judgment. 

So  it  is  perfectly  evident  that  if,  in  the 
judgment  of  the  people  of  the  United  States, 
the  Council  adjudged  wrong,  and  that  this  was 
not  an  occasion  for  the  use  of  force,  there  would 
be  no  necessity  on  the  part  of  the  Congress  of 
the  United  States  to  vote  the  use  of  force. 
But  there  could  be  no  advice  of  the  Council  on 
any  such  subject  without  unanimous  vote,  and 
the  unanimous  vote  would  include  our  own. 
And  if  we  accepted  the  advice  we  would  be 
accepting  our  own  advice.  For  I  need  not  tell 
you  that  the  representatives  of  the  govern 
ment  of  the  United  States  would  not  vote 
without  instructions  from  their  government  at 
home,  and  that  what  we  united  in  advising  we 
could  be  certain  that  our  people  would  desire 
to  do. 

-There  is  in  that  covenant  not  one  note  of 
surrender  of  the  independent  judgment  of  the 
government  of  the  United  States,  but  an 
expression  of  it,  because  that  independent 
judgment  would  have  to  join  with  the  judg 
ment  of  the  rest. 

But  when  is  that  judgment  going  to  be  ex 
pressed,  my  fellow-citizens?  Only  after  it  is 


88         THE  HOPE  OF  THE  WORLD 

evident  that  every  other  resource  has  failed; 
and  I  want  to  call  your  attention  to  the  central 
machinery  of  the  League  of  Nations.  If  any 
member  of  that  League,  or  any  nation  not  a 
member,  refuses  to  submit  the  question  at 
issue  either  to  arbitration  or  to  discussion  by 
the  Council,  there  ensues  automatically,  by  the 
engagements  of  this  covenant,  an  absolute 
economic  boycott.  There  will  be  no  trade 
with  that  nation  by  any  member  of  the  League ; 
there  will  be  no  interchange  of  communication 
by  post  or  telegraph ;  there  will  be  no  travel  to 
or  from  that  nation ;  its  borders  will  be  closed ; 
no  citizen  of  any  other  state  will  be  allowed  to 
enter  it,  and  no  one  of  its  citizens  will  be  al 
lowed  to  leave  it.  It  will  be  hermetically 
sealed  by  the  united  action  of  the  most  power 
ful  nations  in  the  world,  and  if  this  economic 
boycott  bears  with  unequal  weight,  the  mem 
bers  of  the  League  agree  to  support  one  an 
other  and  to  relieve  one  another  in  any  excep 
tional  disadvantages  that  may  arise  out  of  it. 
And  I  want  you  to  realize  that  this  war  was 
won  not  only  by  the  armies  of  the  world,  but  it 
was  won  by  economic  means  as  well.  Without 
the  economic  means  the  war  would  have  been 
much  longer  continued.  What  happened  was 
that  Germany  was  shut  off  from  the  economic 
resources  of  the  rest  of  the  globe  and  she  could 
not  stand  it ;  and  a  nation  that  is  boycotted  is 
a  nation  that  is  in  sight  of  surrender.  Apply 


A  DEFENSE  OF  ARTICLE  X         89 

this  economic,  peaceful,  silent,  deadly  remedy 
and  there  will  be  no  need  for  force. 

It  is  a  terrible  remedy.  It  does  not  cost  a 
life  outside  the  nation  boycotted,  but  it  brings 
a  pressure  upon  that  nation  which,  in  my 
judgment,  no  modern  nation  could  resist. 

I  dare  say  that  some  of  those  ideas  are  new 
to  you,  because,  while  it  is  true,  as  I  said  this 
forenoon  in  Columbus,  that  apparently  nobody 
has  taken  the  pains  to  say  what  is  in  the  cove 
nant  of  the  League  of  Nations,  they  have  dis 
cussed  three  (chiefly  three)  out  of  twenty-six 
articles,  and  the  other  articles  contain  this 
heart  of  the  matter,  that  instead  of  war,  there 
shall  be  arbitration ;  instead  of  war,  there  shall 
be  discussion ;  instead  of  war,  there  shall  be  the 
closure  of  intercourse;  that  instead  of  war, 
there  shall  be  the  irresistible  pressure  of  the 
opinion  of  all  mankind. 

I  need  not  tell  you  that  I  speak  with  knowl 
edge  in  this  matter — knowledge  of  the  purpose 
of  the  men  with  whom  the  men  representing 
America  were  associated  at  the  peace  table. 
Every  one  I  consulted  with  came  there  with 
the  same  idea,  that  wars  had  arisen  in  the  past 
because  the  strong  had  taken  advantage  of  the 
weak,  and  that  the  only  way  to  stop  war  was 
to  band  ourselves  together  to  protect  the  weak. 

And  so,  when  you  read  the  covenant,  read 
the  treaty  with  it. 

I   want  you  to  notice  another  interesting 


90        THE  HOPE  OF  THE  WORLD 

point  that  has  never  been  dilated  upon  in  con 
nection  with  the  League  of  Nations.  I  am 
now  treading  upon  delicate  ground,  and  I  must 
express  myself  with  caution. 

There  were  a  good  many  delegations  that 
visited  Paris,  wanting  to  be  heard  by  the  Peace 
Conference,  who  had  real  causes  to  present, 
and  which  ought  to  be  presented  to  the  view  of 
the  world.  But  we  had  to  point  out  to  them 
that  they  did  not  happen,  unfortunately,  to 
come  within  the  area  of  settlement ;  that  their 
questions  were  not  questions  which  were  neces 
sarily  drawn  into  the  things  that  we  were 
deciding. 

I  therefore  want  to  call  your  attention,  if 
you  will  turn  it  up  when  you  go  home,  to 
Article  XI,  following  Article  X,  of  that  cove 
nant  of  the  League  of  Nations. 

That  Article  XI,  let  me  say,  is  the  favorite 
article  in  the  treaty,  so  far  as  I  am  concerned. 
It  says  that  every  matter  which  is  likely  to 
affect  the  peace  of  the  world  is  everybody's 
business,  and  that  it  shall  be  the  friendly  right 
of  any  nation  to  call  attention  in  the  League 
to  anything  that  is  likely  to  affect  the  peace  of 
the  world,  or  the  good  understanding  between 
nations  upon  which  the  peace  of  the  world 
depends,  whether  that  matter  immediately 
concerns  the  nation  drawing  attention  to  it  or 
not. 

In  other  words,  at  present  we  have  to  mind 


A  DEFENSE  OF  ARTICLE  X         91 

our  own  business.  Under  the  covenant  of  the 
League  of  Nations  we  can  mind  other  people's 
business,  and  anything  that  affects  the  peace 
of  the  world,  whether  we  are  parties  to  it  or 
not,  can,  by  our  delegates,  be  brought  to  the 
attention  of  mankind. 


IX 

A  UNION  FOR  ARBITRATION 
(Sx.  Louis,  September  5,  1919) 

In  his  speech  at  the  Chamber  of  Commerce 
luncheon  President  Wilson  said: 

I  AM  glad  to  hear  the  Mayor  say  (and  I 
believe  it  is  true)  that  politics  is  adjourned. 
Politics  has  no  place — I  mean  party  politics  has 
no  place — my  fellow-citizens,  in  the  subjects 
that  we  are  now  obliged  to  discuss  and  to 
decide. 

The  treaty  of  peace  with  Germany  is  a 
charter  and  constitution  of  a  new  system  for 
the  world,  and  that  new  system  is  based  upon 
an  absolute  reversal  of  the  principles  of  the 
old  system.  The  essential  object  of  that 
treaty  is  to  establish  the  independence  and 
protect  the  integrity  of  the  weak  peoples  of 
the  world. 

I  hear  some  gentlemen  who  are  themselves 
incapable  of  altruistic  purposes  say:  "Oh,  but 
that  is  altruistic.  It  is  not  our  business  to 
take  care  of  the  weak  nations  of  the  world." 
No,  but  it  is  our  business  to  prevent  wars,  and 


A  UNION  FOR  ARBITRATION        93 

if  we  don't  take  care  of  the  weak  nations  of 
the  world  there  will  be  war.  Let  them  show 
me  how  they  will  keep  out  of  war  by  not  pro 
tecting  them.  Let  them  show  me  how  they 
will  prove  that,  having  gone  into  an  enterprise, 
they  are  not  absolutely  contemptible  quitters 
if  they  don't  see  the  game  through. 

What  was  the  old  formula  of  Pan-German 
ism?  From  Bremen  to  Bagdad,  wasn't  it? 
Well,  look  at  the  map.  What  lies  between 
Bremen  and  Bagdad?  After  you  get  past  the 
German  territory  there  is  Poland,  there  is  Bo 
hemia,  which  we  have  made  into  Czecho 
slovakia;  there  is  Hungary,  which  is  now  di 
vided  from  Austria  and  does  not  share  Austria's 
strength;  there  is  Rumania,  there  is  Jugo 
slavia,  there  is  broken  Turkey,  and  then  Persia 
and  Bagdad.  We  have  undertaken  to  say  this 
route  is  closed. 

Our  own  business?  Is  there  a  merchant 
present  here,  or  any  manufacturer,  or  any 
banker  that  can  say  that  our  interests  are 
separate  from  the  interests  of  the  rest  of  the 
world  commercially,  industrially,  financially? 
And  when  he  draws  a  picture  to  himself,  if  he 
is  frank,  of  what  some  gentlemen  propose, 
this  is  what  he  sees:  America  minding  her 
own  business,  and  having  no  other.  Despised, 
suspected,  distrusted.  And  on  the  other  side 
of  the  water  the  treaty  and  its  operation 
interrupted?  Not  at  all. 


94         THE  HOPE  OF  THE  WORLD 

We  are  a  great  nation,  my  fellow-citizens, 
but  the  treaty  is  going  to  be  applied  just  the 
same,  whether  we  take  part  in  it  or  not. 

I  beg  that  you  will  not  conceive  of  the 
League  of  Nations  as  a  combination  of  the 
world  for  war,  for  that  is  exactly  what  it  is  not. 
It  is  a  combination  of  the  world  for  arbitration 
and  discussion.  Any  member  of  the  League 
which  breaks  these  promises  with  regard  to 
arbitration  or  discussion  is  to  be  deemed 
thereby  to  have  committed  an  act  of  war 
against  the  other  members  of  the  League — not 
merely  to  have  done  an  immoral  thing,  but  by 
refusing  to  obey  those  processes  to  have  com 
mitted  an  act  of  war. 

And  you  know  what  then  happens.  You 
say,  "Yes;  we  form  an  army  and  go  to  fight 
them."  Not  at  all.  We  shut  our  doors  and 
lock  them  out;  we  boycott  them.  Just  so 
soon  as  that  is  done,  they  cannot  ship  cargoes 
out  or  receive  them  shipped  in;  they  cannot 
send  a  telegraphic  message;  they  cannot  send 
or  receive  a  letter.  I  don't  think  that  after 
that  it  will  be  necessary  to  do  any  fighting 
at  all. 

Now,  that  is  the  League  of  Nations — an 
agreement  to  arbitrate  and  discuss,  and  an 
agreement  that  if  you  do  not  arbitrate  and 
discuss  you  shall  be  absolutely  boycotted  and 
starved  out. 

And  there  is  added  to  this,  this  very  interest- 


A  UNION  FOR  ARBITRATION       95 

ing  thing:  There  can  hereafter  be  no  secret 
treaties.  The  provision  of  the  covenant  is 
that  every  treaty  or  international  understand 
ing  shall  be  registered  (I  believe  the  word  is) 
with  the  General  Secretary  of  the  League ;  that 
the  General  Secretary  shall  publish  it  in  full 
just  as  soon  as  it  is  possible  for  him  to  publish 
it;  that  no  treaty  shall  be  valid  which  is  not 
thus  registered. 

It  was  very  embarrassing,  my  fellow-citizens, 
when  you  thought  you  were  approaching  an 
ideal  solution  of  a  momentous  question  to  find 
that  some  of  your  principal  colleagues  had 
given  the  whole  thing  away. 

And  that  leads  me  to  speak  just  in  passing 
of  what  has  given  a  great  many  people  un 
natural  distress.  I  mean  the  Shantung  settle 
ment — the  settlement  with  regard  to  a  portion 
of  the  province  of  Shantung  in  China. 

Great  Britain  and  others,  as  everybody 
knows,  in  order  to  make  it  more  certain  that 
Japan  would  come  into  the  war  and  so  assist 
to  clear  the  Pacific  of  the  German  fleets,  had 
promised  that  any  rights  that  Germany  had 
in  China  should,  in  the  case  of  the  victory  of 
the  Allies,  pass  to  Japan.  There  was  no  quali 
fication  in  the  promise.  She  was  to  get  exactly 
what  Germany  had.  And  so  the  only  thing 
that  was  possible  was  to  induce  Japan  to 
promise — and  I  want  to  say  in  all  fairness, 
for  it  wouldn't  be  fair  if  I  didn't  say  it,  that 


96        THE  HOPE  OF  THE  WORLD 

Japan  did  very  handsomely  make  the  promises 
which  were  requested  of  her — that  she  would 
retain  in  Shantung  none  of  the  sovereign  rights 
which  Germany  had  enjoyed  there,  but  would 
return  the  sovereignty  without  qualification 
to  China  and  retain  in  Shantung  Province 
only  what  other  nationalities  had  elsewhere- 
economic  rights  with  regard  to  development 
and  administration  of  the  railroad  and  of 
certain  mines  which  had  become  attached  to 
the  railway. 

That  is  her  promise.  And,  personally,  I 
haven't  the  slightest  doubt  that  she  will  fulfil 
that  promise.  She  cannot  fulfil  it  right  now 
because  the  thing  doesn't  come  into  operation 
until  three  months  after  the  treaty  is  ratified, 
so  that  we  must  not  be  too  impatient  about  it. 
But  she  will  fulfil  those  promises. 

And  suppose  that  we  said  we  wouldn't 
assent.  England  and  others  must  assent,  and 
if  we  are  going  to  get  Shantung  Province  back 
for  China  and  those  gentlemen  don't  want  to 
engage  in  foreign  wars,  how  are  they  going  to 
get  it  back? 

Their  idea  of  not  getting  into  trouble  seems 
to  be  to  stand  for  the  greatest  possible  number 
of  unworkable  propositions.  All  very  well  to 
talk  about  standing  by  China.  But  how  are 
you  standing  by  China  when  you  withdraw 
from  the  only  arrangements  by  which  China 
can  be  assisted? 


A  UNION  FOR  ARBITRATION        97 

If  you  are  China's  friend,  don't  go  into  the 
council  where  you  can  act  as  China's  friend. 
If  you  are  China's  friend,  then  put  her  in  a 
position  where  these  concessions,  which  have 
been  made,  need  not  be  carried  out.  If  you 
are  China's  friend,  scuttle  and  run.  That  is 
not  the  kind  of  American  I  am. 


A  PLEDGE  TO  BE  REDEEMED 
(Sx.  Louis,  September  5,  1919) 

President  Wilson  in  his  address  at  the 
Coliseum  said: 

WE  have  met  upon  an  occasion  which  is 
much  too  solemn  to  care  how  we  look.  [This 
referred  to  a  photographer's  attempt  to  take 
a  flashlight  before  the  President  spoke.]  We 
ought  to  care  how  we  think.  And  I  have  come 
here  to-night  to  ask  permission  to  discuss  with 
you  some  of  the  very  curious  aberrations  of 
thinking  that  have  taken  place  in  this  country 
of  late. 

I  have  sought — I  think  I  have  sought  with 
out  prejudice — to  understand  the  point  of 
view  of  the  men  who  have  been  opposing  the 
treaty  and  the  covenant  of  the  League  of 
Nations.  Many  of  them  are  men  whose 
judgment  of  a  patriotic  feeling  I  have  been 
accustomed  to  admire  and  respect.  And  yet 
I  must  admit  to  you,  my  fellow-countrymen, 
that  it  is  very  hard  for  me  to  believe  that  they 
have  followed  their  line  of  thinking  to  its 


A  PLEDGE  TO  BE  REDEEMED      99 

logical  and  necessary  conclusion,  because 
when  you  reflect  upon  their  position  it  is 
either  that  we  ought  to  reject  this  treaty  alto 
gether  or  that  we  ought  to  change  it  in  such  a 
way  as  will  make  it  necessary  to  reopen  nego 
tiations  with  Germany  and  reconsider  the 
settlements  of  the  peace  in  many  essential 
particulars. 

That  is  what  these  gentlemen  call  playing  a 
one  hand.  It  is,  indeed,  playing  a  lone  hand; 
t  is  playing  a  hand  that  is  frozen  out.  We 
nust  contribute  the  money  which  other  na 
tions  are  to  use  in  order  to  rehabilitate  their 
ndustry  and  credit,  and  we  must  make  them 
)ur  antagonists  and  rivals  and  not  our  partners. 
'.  put  that  proposition  to  any  business  man, 
young  or  old,  in  the  United  States  and  ask 
lim  how  he  likes  it,  and  whether  he  considers 
;hat  a  useful  way  for  the  United  States  to 
itand  alone. 

We  have  got  to  carry  this  burden  of  recon 
struction,  whether  we  will  or  not,  or  be  ruined, 
ind  the  question  is,  shall  we  carry  it  and  be 
ruined,  anyhow,  for  that  is  what  these  gentle- 
nen  propose,  that  at  every  point  we  shall  be 
embarrassed  by  the  whole  financial  affairs  of 
the  world  being  in  the  hands  of  other  nations. 

The  men  who  propose  these  things  do  not 
understand  the  selfish  interests  of  the  Uni 
ted  States.  Because  here  is  the  rest  of  the 
picture:  hot  rivals,  burning  suspicions,  jeal- 

8 


ioo       THE  HOPE  OF  THE  WORLD 

ousies,  arrangements  made  everywhere  if 
possible  to  shut  us  out,  because  if  we  won't 
come  in  as  equals  we  ought  to  be  shut  out. 

As  it  stands  now,  every  nation  trusts  us. 
They  look  to  us.  They  long  that  we  shall 
undertake  anything  for  their  assistance  rather 
than  that  any  other  nation  should  undertake 
it.  And  if  we  say  that  we  are  in  this  world  to 
live  by  ourselves  and  get  what  we  can  get  out 
of  it  by  any  selfish  process,  then  the  reaction 
will  change  the  whole  heart  and  attitude  of 
the  world  toward  this  great,  free,  justice- 
loving  people,  and  after  you  have  changed  the 
attitude  of  the  world,  what  have  you  produced  r 
Peace?  Why,  my  fellow-citizens,  is  there  any 
man  here,  or  any  woman,  let  me  say,  is  there 
any  child,  who  does  not  know  that  the  seed  oi 
war  in  the  modern  world  is  industrial  and 
commercial  rivalry? 

Ladies  and  gentlemen,  I  don't  say  it  because 
I  am  an  American  and  my  heart  is  full  of  the 
same  pride  that  fills  yours  with  regard  to  the 
power  and  the  spirit  of  this  great  nation,  but 
merely  because  it  is  a  fact  which  I  think 
everybody  would  admit  outside  of  America 
as  well  as  inside  of  America — the  organizatior 
contemplated  by  the  League  of  Nations,  with 
out  the  United  States,  would  merely  be  ar 
alliance  and  not  a  League  of  Nations.  Il 
would  be  an  alliance  in  which  the  partnership 
would  be  between  the  more  powerful  Europear 


A  PLEDGE  TO  BE  .REDEEMED     ioi 

nations  and  Japan,  and  the  other  party  to  the 
world  arrangement,  the  antagonists,  the  dis- 
associative  party,  the  party  to  be  standing  off 
and  to  be  watched  by  the  alliance,  would  be 
the  United  States  of  America. 

You  can't  afford  to  be  unfriendly  to  every 
body,  unless  you  can  afford  to  have  everybody 
unfriendly  to  you. 

This  war  was  a  commercial  and  industrial 
war.  It  was  not  a  political  war.  Very  well, 
then,  if  we  must  stand  apart  and  be  the  hostile 
rivals  of  the  rest  of  the  world,  then  we  must  do 
something  else,  we  must  be  physically  ready 
for  anything  to  come.  We  must  have  a  great 
standing  army.  We  must  see  to  it  that  every 
man  in  America  is  trained  to  arms.  We  must 
see  to  it  that  there  are  munitions  and  guns 
enough  for  an  army.  That  means  a  mobilized 
nation.  That  means  that  arms  are  not  only 
laid  up  in  store,  but  also  that  they  are  kept  up 
to  date  so  that  they  are  ready  to  use  to-morrow. 

And  what  does  that  mean?  Reduction  of 
taxes  ?  No.  Not  only  the  continuation  of  the 
present  taxes,  but  the  increase  of  the  present 
taxes?  It  means  something  very  much  more 
serious  than  that. 

We  can  stand  that  so  far  as  the  expense  is 
concerned,  if  we  care  to  keep  up  the  high  cost 
of  living  and  enjoy  the  other  luxuries  that  we 
have  recently  enjoyed.  But  what  is  much 
more  serious,  we  have  got  to  have  the  sort  of 


idr      T^TE  tiOPE  OF  THE  WORLD 

organization  which  is  the  only  kind  of  organiza 
tion  that  can  handle  armies  of  that  sort.  We 
may  say  what  we  please  of  the  German  gov 
ernment  that  has  been  destroyed,  my  fellow- 
citizens,  but  it  was  the  only  sort  of  government 
that  could  handle  an  armed  nation.  You 
can't  handle  an  armed  nation  by  vote.  You 
can't  handle  an  armed  nation  if  it  is  demo 
cratic,  because  democracies  don't  go  to  war 
that  way.  You  have  got  to  have  a  concen 
trated,  militaristic  organization  of  government 
to  run  a  nation  of  that  sort. 

And  you  can't  watch  other  nations  with 
your  unassisted  eye.  You  have  got  to  watch 
them  by  secret  agencies  planted  everywhere. 
And  let  me  testify  to  this,  my  fellow-citizens, 
I  not  only  did  not  know  it  until  we  got  into 
this  war,  but  I  did  not  believe  it  when  I  was 
told  that  it  was  true.  Germany  was  not  the 
only  country  that  maintained  a  secret  service. 
Every  country  in  Europe  maintained  it  be 
cause  they  had  to  be  ready  for  Germany's 
spring  upon  them,  and  the  only  difference 
between  the  German  secret  service  and  the 
other  secret  services  was  that  the  German 
secret  service  found  out  more  than  the  others 
did. 

Under  the  League  plan,  the  financial  leader 
ship  will  be  ours,  the  industrial  supremacy  will 
be  ours,  the  commercial  advantage  will  be 
ours,  and  the  other  countries  of  the  world  will 


A   PLEDGE  TO  BE   REDEEMED     103 

look  to  us,  and  shall  I  say,  are  looking  to  us, 
for  leadership  and  direction. 

Very  well,  then,  if  I  am  to  compete  with  the 
critics  of  this  League  and  of  this  treaty,  as  a 
selfish  American  I  say  I  want  to  get  in  and  get 
in  as  quickly  as  I  can ;  I  want  to  be  inside  and 
know  how  the  thing  is  run,  and  help  to  run  it, 
so  that  you  have  the  alternative — armed  iso 
lation  or  peaceful  partnership. 

Can  any  sane  man  hesitate  as  to  the  choice, 
and  can  any  sane  man  ask  the  question,  which 
is  the  way  of  peace  ? 

This  nation  went  into  this  war  to  see  it 
through  to  the  end,  and  the  end  has  not  come 
yet.  This  is  the  beginning,  not  of  the  war, 
but  of  the  processes  which  are  going  to  render 
war  like  this  impossible.  There  are  no  other 
processes  than  these  that  are  proposed  in  this 
great  treaty.  It  is  a  great  treaty.  It  is  a 
treaty  of  justice. 

We  are  in  the  presence,  therefore,  of  the  most 

solemn  choice  that  this  people  was  ever  called 

upon  to  make.     That  choice  is  nothing  less 

I  than  this :    Shall  America  redeem  her  pledges 

to  the  world? 

America  is  made  up  of  the  peoples  of  the 
world  and  she  has  said  to  mankind  at  her  birth, 
"We  have  come  to  redeem  the  world  by  giving 
it  liberty  and  justice."  Now  we  are  called 
upon  before  the  tribunal  of  mankind  to  redeem 
that  immortal  pledge. 


XI 

A  GREAT  HISTORICAL  DOCUMENT 
(KANSAS  CITY,  September  6,  1919) 

In  his  address  at  Convention  Hall  President 
Wilson  said: 

I  CAME  back  from  Paris,  bringing  one  of  the 
greatest  documents  of  human  history.  One  of 
the  things  that  made  it  great  was  that  it  was 
penetrated  throughout  with  the  principles  to 
which  America  has  devoted  her  life.  Let  me 
hasten  to  say  that  one  of  the  most  delightful 
circumstances  of  the  work  on  the  other  side  of 
the  water  was  that  I  discovered  that  what  we 
called  American  principles  had  penetrated  to 
the  heart  and  to  the  understanding,  not  only 
of  the  great  peoples  of  Europe,  but  to  the 
hearts  and  understandings  of  the  great  men 
who  were  representing  the  peoples  of  Europe. 

I  think  that  I  can  say  that  one  of  the  things 
that  America  has  had  most  at  heart  through 
out  her  existence  has  been  that  there  should 
be  substituted  for  the  brutal  processes  of  war 
the  friendly  processes  of  consultation  and 


A  GREAT  HISTORICAL  DOCUMENT      105 

arbitration,  and  that  is  done  in  the  covenant 
of  the  League  of  Nations.  I  am  very  anxious 
that  my  fellow-citizens  should  realize  that 
that  is  the  chief  topic  of  the  covenant  of  the 
League  of  Nations — the  greater  part  of  its 
provisions.  The  whole  intent  and  purpose  of 
the  document  are  expressed  in  provisions  by 
which  all  the  member  states  agree  that  they 
will  never  go  to  war  without  first  having  done 
one  or  the  other  of  two  things — either  sub 
mitted  the  matter  in  controversy  to  arbitra 
tion,  in  which  case  they  agree  to  abide  by  the 
verdict,  or  submitting  it  to  discussion  in  the 
council  of  the  League  of  Nations,  and  for  that 
purpose  they  consent  to  allow  six  months  for 
the  discussion,  and,  whether  they  like  the 
opinion  expressed  or  not,  that  they  will  not  go 
to  war  for  three  months  after  that  opinion  has 
been  expressed. 

So  that  you  have,  whether  you  get  arbitra 
tion  or  not,  nine  months'  discussion,  and  I 
want  to  remind  you  that  that  is  the  central 
principle  of  some  thirty  treaties  entered  into 
between  the  United  States  of  America  and 
some  thirty  other  sovereign  nations,  all  of 
which  are  confirmed  by  the  Senate  of  the 
United  States. 

We  have  such  an  agreement  with  France; 
we  have  such  an  agreement  with  Great  Brit 
ain;  we  have  such  an  agreement  with  prac 
tically  every  great  nation  except  Germany, 


106       THE  HOPE  OF  THE  WORLD 

which  refused  to  enter  into  such  an  arrange 
ment  because,  my  fellow-citizens,  Germany 
knew  that  she  intended  something  that  did 
not  bear  discussion  and  that,  if  she  had  sub 
mitted  the  purpose  which  led  to  this  war  to 
so  much  as  one  month's  discussion,  she  never 
would  have  dared  go  into  the  enterprise 
against  mankind  which  she  finally  did  go  into. 
[Applause.] 

And,  therefore,  I  say  that  this  principle  of 
discussion  is  the  principle  already  adopted  by 
America.  And  what  is  the  compulsion  to  do 
this?  The  compulsion  is  this,  that  if  any 
member  state  violates  that  promise  to  submit 
either  to  arbitration  or  discussion,  it  is  thereby, 
ipso  facto,  deemed  to  have  committed  an  act 
of  war  against  all  the  rest.  Then,  you  will 
ask,  do  we  at  once  take  up  arms  and  fight 
them?  No.  We  do  something  very  much 
more  terrible  than  that.  We  absolutely  boy 
cott  them. 

Let  any  merchant  put  up  to  himself  that  if 
he  enters  into  a  covenant  and  then  breaks  it 
and  the  people  all  around  absolutely  desert 
his  establishment  and  will  have  nothing  to  do 
with  him — ask  him  after  that  if  it  will  be  neces 
sary  to  send  the  police.  The  most  terrible 
thing  that  can  happen  to  any  individual  and 
the  most  conclusive  thing  that  can  happen  to 
a  nation  is  to  be  read  out  of  decent  society. 
[Applause.] 


A  GREAT  HISTORICAL  DOCUMENT      107 

There  was  another  thing  that  we  needed  to 
accomplish,  that  is  accomplished  in  this  docu 
ment.  We  wanted  disarmament,  and  this  doc 
ument  provides  in  the  only  possible  way  for 
disarmament  by  common  agreement.  Ob 
serve,  my  fellow-citizens,  that  just  now  every 
great  fighting  nation  in  the  world  is  a  member 
of  this  partnership  except  Germany,  and  inas 
much  as  Germany  has  accepted  a  limitation  of 
her  army  to  100,000  men,  I  don't  think  for  the 
time  being  she  may  be  regarded  as  a  great 
fighting  nation. 

And  you  know,  my  fellow-citizens,  that 
armaments  mean  great  standing  armies  and 
great  stores  of  war  material.  They  do  not 
mean  burdensome  taxation  merely,  they  do 
not  mean  merely  compulsory  military  service, 
which  saps  the  economic  strength  of  the  na 
tion,  but  they  mean  the  building  up  of  a 
military  class. 

Then  there  was  another  thing  we  wanted  to 
do,  my  fellow-citizens,  that  is  done  in  this  doc 
ument.  We  wanted  to  see  that  helpless  people 
were  nowhere  in  the  world  put  at  the  mercy  of 
unscrupulous  enemies  and  masters.  There  is 
one  pitiful  example  which  is  in  the  hearts  of 
all  of  us.  I  mean  the  example  of  Armenia. 
There  was  a  Christian  people,  helpless,  at  the 
mercy  of  a  Turkish  government  which  thought 
it  the  service  of  God  to  destroy  them.  At  this 
moment,  my  fellow-citizens,  it  is  an  open 


,io8       THE  HOPE  OF  THE  WORLD 

question  whether  the  Armenian  people  will 
not,  while  we  sit  here  and  debate,  be  absolutely 
j  destroyed. 

When  I  think  of  words  piled  on  words,  of 
debate  following  debate,  when  these  unspeak 
able  things  that  cannot  be  handled  until  the 
debate  is  over  are  happening  in  these  pitiful 
parts  of  the  world,  I  wonder  that  men  do  not 
wake  up  to  the  moral  responsibility  of  what 
they  are  doing.  Great  peoples  are  driven  out 
upon  a  desert,  where  there  is  no  food  and  can 
be  none,  and  they  are  compelled  to  die,  and 
then  men,  women,  and  children  thrown  into  a 
common  grave,  so  imperfectly  covered  up 
that  here  and  there  is  a  pitiful  arm  stretched 
out  to  heaven,  and  there  is  no  pity  in  the 
world.  When  shall  we  wake  to  the  moral 
responsibility  of  this  great  occasion? 

There  never  before  has  been  provided  a 
world  forum  in  which  the  legitimate  grievances 
of  peoples  entitled  to  consideration  can  be 
brought  to  the  common  judgment  of  mankind. 
And  if  I  were  the  advocate  of  any  suppressed 
or  oppressed  people  I  surely  could  not  ask  any 
better  forum  than  to  stand  up  before  the  world 
and  challenge  the  other  party  to  make  good 
its  excuses  for  not  acting  in  that  case. 

To  reject  that  treaty,  to  alter  that  treaty, 
is  to  impair  one  of  the  first  charters  of  man 
kind.  And  yet  there  are  men  who  approach 
the  question  with  passion,  with  private  pas- 


A  GREAT  HISTORICAL  DOCUMENT      109 

sion,  and  party  passion,  who  think  only  of  some 
immediate  advantage  to  themselves  or  to  a 
group  of  their  fellow-country  men,  f  "and  who 
look  at  the  thing  with  the  jaundiced  eyes  of 
those  who  have  some  private  purpose  of  their 
own.  When  at  last,  in  the  annals  of  mankind, 
they  are  gibbeted,  they  will  regret  that  the 
gibbet  is  so  high. 

"I  would  not  have  you  think  that  I  am  try 
ing  to  characterize  those  who  conscientiously 
object  to  anything  in  this  great  document.  I 
take  off  my  hat  in  the  presence  of  any  man's 
genuine  conscience,  and  there  are  men  who 
are  conscientiously  opposed  to  it,  though  they 
will  pardon  me  if  I  say  ignorantly  opposed.  I 
have  no  quarrel  with  them.  It  has  been  a 
great  pleasure  to  confer  with  some  of  them— 
and  to  tell  them  as  frankly  as  I  would  have 
told  my  most  intimate  friend  the  whole  inside 
of  my  mind,  and  every  other  mind  that  I  knew 
anything  about  that  had  been  concerned  with 
the  conduct  of  affairs  at  Paris,  in  order  that 
they  might  understand  this  thing  and  go  with 
the  rest  of  us  in  the  confirmation  of  what  is 
necessary  for  the  peace  of  the  world. 

I  have  no  intolerant  spirit  in  the  matter; 
but  I  also  assure  you  that  from  the  bottom  of 
rny  feet  to  the  top  of  my  head  I  have  got  a 
fighting  spirit  about  it. 

And  if  anybody  dares  to  defeat  this  great 
experiment,  then  they  must  gather  together 


i  io       THE  HOPE  OF  THE  WORLD 

the  counselors  of  the  world  and  do  something 
better. 

I  have  not  come  to  fight  or  antagonize  any 
individual  or  body  of  individuals.  I  have,  let 
me  say,  without  the  slightest  affectation,  the 
greatest  respect  for  the  United  States  Senate, 
but,  my  fellow-citizens,  I  have  come  out  to 
fight  for  a  cause.  That  cause  is  greater  than 
the  Senate;  it  is  greater  than  the  government. 
It  is  as  great  as  the  cause  of  mankind,  and  I 
intend,  in  office  or  out,  to  fight  that  battle  as 
long  as  I  live. 

My  ancestors  were  troublesome  Scotchmen 
and  among  them  were  some  of  that  famous 
group  that  were  known  as  the  Covenanters. 

Very  well,  there  is  the  covenant  of  the 
League  of  Nations.  I  am  a  covenanter. 


XII 

THE  WORLD  IS  WAITING  ON   US 
(DBS  MOINES,  IOWA,  September  6,  1919) 

In  his  speech  at  the  Coliseum  President 
Wilson  said: 

THE  world  is  desperately  in  need  of  the 
settled  conditions  of  peace,  and  it  cannot  wait 
much  longer.  It  is  waiting  upon  us.  That  is 
the  thought,  that  is  the  burdensome  thought 
upon  my  heart  to-night,  that  the  world  is  wait 
ing  for  the  verdict  of  the  nation  to  which  it 
looked  for  leadership  and  which  it  thought 
would  be  the  last  that  would  ask  the  world  to 
wait. 

What  happened  in  Russia  was  not  a  sudden 
and  accidental  thing.  The  people  of  Russia 
were  maddened  with  the  suppression  of  czar- 
ism.  When  at  last  the  chance  came  to  throw 
off  those  chains,  they  threw  them  off,  at  first 
with  hearts  full  of  confidence  and  hope,  and 
then  they  found  out  that  they  had  been  again 
deceived.  There  was  no  Assembly  chosen  to 
frame  a  constitution  for  them,  or  rather  there 


ii2       THE  HOPE  OF  THE  WORLD 

was  an  Assembly  chosen  to  choose  a  constitu 
tion  for  them  and  it  was  suppressed  and 
dispersed,  and  a  little  group  of  men  just  as 
selfish,  just  as  ruthless,  just  as  pitiless  as  the 
Czar  himself  assumed  control  and  exercised 
their  power  by  terror  and  not  by  right. 

And  in  other  parts  of  Europe  the  poison 
spread — the  poison  of  disorder,  the  poison  of 
revolt,  the  poison  of  chaos.  And  do  you  hon 
estly  think,  my  fellow-citizens,  that  none  of 
that  poison  has  got  in  the  veins  of  this  free 
people?  Do  you  not  know  that  the  world  is 
all  now  one  single  whispering  gallery?  These 
antennas  of  the  wireless  telegraph  are  the  sym 
bols  of  our  age. 

All  the  impulses  of  mankind  are  thrown  out 
upon  the  air  and  reach  to  the  ends  of  the  earth. 
With  the  tongue  of  the  wireless  and  the  tongue 
of  the  telegraph  all  the  suggestions  of  disorder 
are  spread  through  the  world,  and  money, 
coming  from  nobody  knows  where,  is  deposited 
by  the  millions  in  capitals  like  Stockholm  to  be 
used  for  the  propaganda  of  disorder  and  dis 
content  and  dissolution  throughout  the  world, 
and  men  look  you  calmly  in  the  face  in  America 
and  say  they  are  for  that  sort  of  revolution, 
when  '  *  that  sort  of  revolution ' '  means  govern 
ment  by  terror,  government  by  force,  not 
government  by  vote. 

It  is  the  negation  of  everything  that  is 
American,  but  it  is  spreading,  and  so  long  as 


THE  WORLD  IS  WAITING  ON  US     113 

disorder  continues ,  so  long  as  the  world  is  kept 
waiting  for  the  answer  to  the  question  of  the 
kind  of  peace  we  are  going  to  have  and  what 
kind  of  guaranties  there  are  to  be  behind  that 
peace,  that  poison  will  steadily  spread,  more 
and  more  rapidly  until  it  may  be  that  even 
this  beloved  land  of  ours  will  be  distracted  and 
distorted  by  it. 

That  is  what  is  concerning  me,  my  fellow- 
countrymen.  I  know  the  splendid  steadiness 
of  the  American  people,  but,  my  fellow- 
citizens,  the  whole  world  needs  that  steadiness 
and  the  American  people  are  the  makeweight 
in  the  fortunes  of  mankind.  How  long  are  we 
going  to  debate  into  which  scale  we  will  throw 
that  magnificent  equipoise  that  belongs  to  us? 
How  long  shall  we  be  kept  waiting  for  the 
answer  whether  the  world  may  trust  us  or 
despise  us? 

They  have  looked  to  us  for  leadership. 
,They  have  looked  to  us  for  example.  They 
have  built  their  peace  upon  the  basis  of  our 
suggestions.  That  great  volume  that  con 
tains  the  treaty  of  peace  is  drawn  along  the 
specifications  laid  down  by  the  American 
government,  and  now  the  world  stands  at 
amaze  because  an  authority  in  America  hesi 
tates  whether  it  will  indorse  an  American 
document  or  not. 

The  confidence  of  the  men  who  sat  at  Paris 
was  such  that  they  put  it  in  the  document 


n4       THE  HOPE  OF  THE  WORLD 

that  the  first  meeting  of  the  labor  conference 
under  that  part  of  the  treaty  should  take  place 
in  Washington  upon  the  invitation  of  the 
President  of  the  United  States. 

I  am  going  to  issue  that  invitation  whether 
we  can  attend  the  conference  or  not.  But 
think  of  the  mortification.  Think  of  standing 
by  in  Washington  itself  and  see  the  world  take 
counsel  upon  the  rudimental  matter  of  civiliza 
tion  without  us.  The  thing  is  inconceivable, 
rmt  it  is  true. 

CjThe  world  is  waiting — waiting  to  see,  not 
whether  we  will  take  part,  but  whether  we  will^ 
serve  and  lead,  for  it  has  expected  us  to  lead. 

In  Paris,  delegations  from  all  over  the  world 
came  to  me  to  solicit  the  friendship  of  America. 
They  frankly  told  us  that  they  were  not  sure  of 
anybody  else  that  they  could  trust,  but  that 
they  did  absolutely  trust  us  to  do  them  justice 
and  to  see  that  justice  was  done  them. 

That  is  the  attitude  of  the  world,  and  reflect 
upon  the  reaction,  the  reaction  of  despair,  that 
would  come  if  America  said :  ' '  We  do  not  want 
to  lead  you.  You  must  do  without  our  ad 
vice.  You  must  shift  without  us." 

How  are  we  going  to  bring  about  a  peace  for 
which  everything  waits?  I  have  been  very 
much  amazed  and  very  much  amused,  if  I 
could  be  amused  in  such  critical  circumstances, 
to  see  that  the  statesmanship  of  some  gentle 
men  consists  in  the  very  interesting  proposition 


THE  WORLD  IS  WAITING  ON  US     115 

that  we  do  nothing  at  all.  I  heard  of  standing 
pat  before,  but  I  never  had  before  heard  of 
standpatism  going  to  the  length  of  saying  it  is 
none  of  our  business  and  we  do  not  care  what 
happens  to  the  rest  of  the  world. 

Some  gentlemen  are  saying,  "Yes,  we  made 
a  great  promise  to  mankind,  but  it  will  cost 
too  much  to  redeem  it."  My  fellow-citizens, 
that  is  not  the 'spirit  of  America,  and  you  can 
not  have  peace,  you  cannot  have  even  your 
legitimate  part  in  the  business  of  the  world, 
unless  you  are  partners  with  the  rest. 

If  you  are  going  to  say  to  the  world,  "We 
will  stand  off  and  see  what  we  can  get  out  of 
this,"  the  world  will  see  to  it  that  you  do  not 
get  anything  out  of  it.  If  it  is  your  deliberate 
choice  that  instead  of  being  friends  you  will 
be  rivals  and  antagonists,  then '  you  will  get 
just  exactly  what 'rivals  and  antagonists  al 
ways  get,  just  as  little  as  can  be  grudgingly 
;  vouchsafed  you.' 

Is  there  any  business  man  here  who  would 
be  willing  to  see  the  world  go  bankrupt  and  the 
business  of  the  world  stop?  I  do  not  like  to 
a/gue  this  thing  on  this  basis,  but  if  you  want 
to  talk  business  I  am  ready  to  talk  business. 
It  is  a  matter  of  how  much  you  are  going  to 
get  from  your  money.  You  will  not  get  half 
as  much  as  antagonists  as  you  will  get  as 
partners. 

So  think  that  over,  if  you  have  none  of  that 


ii6       THE  HOPE  OF  THE  WORLD 

thing  that  is  so  lightly  spoken  of,  known  as 
altruism,  and  believe  me,  my  fellow-country 
men,  the  only  people  in  the  world  who  are 
going  to  reap  the  harvest  of  the  future  are 
the  people  who  can  entertain  ideals,  who  can 
follow  ideals  to  the  death. 

So,  my  fellow-citizens,  you  have  got  to  make 
up  your  minds,  because,  after  all,  it  is  you  who 
are  going  to  make  up  the  minds  of  this  country. 
I  do  not  owe  a  report  or  the  slightest  respon 
sibility  to  anybody  but  you.  I  mean  you  and 
the  millions  besides  you,  thoughtful,  respon 
sible  American  men  and  women  all  over  this 
country.  They  are  my  bosses,  and  I  am 
mighty  glad  to  be  their  servant. 


XIII 

RESERVATIONS  MEAN   DELAY 
(OMAHA,  NEBRASKA,  September  8,  1919} 

In  his  speech  at  the  Auditorium  President 
Wilson  said: 

I  DIDN'T  come  here  this  morning  so  much  to 
expound  the  treaty  as  to  talk  about  reserva 
tions.  A  reservation  is  an  assent  with  a 
44 but"  to  it.  "We  agree,  but—" 

Now  I  want  to  call  your  attention  to  some  of 
these  "buts."  I  will  take  them  as  far  as  I 
can  in  the  order  in  which  they  deal  with  the 
clauses  of  the  League  itself. 

In  the  first  article  of  the  covenant  it  is  pro- 
i  vided  that  a  nation  can  withdraw  from  the 
j  League  on  two  years'  notice,  provided  that  at 
j  the  time  of  this  withdrawal,  that  is  to  say,  at 
I  the  expiration  of  the  two  years,  it  has  fulfilled 
all  its  international  obligations  and  all  its 
(obligations  under  the  covenant. 

But  some  of  our  friends  are  very  uneasy 
j  about  that.  They  want  to  sit  close  to  the 
door  and  with  their  hand  on  the  knob,  and 


n8       THE  HOPE  OF  THE  WORLD 

they  want  to  say,  "We  are  in  this  thing,  but 
we  are  in  it  with  infinite  timidity,  and  we  are 
in  it  only  because  you  overpersuaded  us  and 
wanted  us  to  come  in,  but  we  are  going  to  sit 
here  and  try  this  door  every  once  in  a  while  and 
see  if  it  isn't  locked,  and  just  as  soon  as  we  see 
anything  we  don't  like  we  are  going  to  scuttle. " 
[Laughter  and  applause.] 

Now,  what  is  the  trouble?  I  want  you  to 
put  this  to  every  man  you  know  who  makes 
this  objection.  What  is  he  afraid  of?  Is  he 
afraid  that  when  the  United  States  wishes 
to  withdraw  it  will  not  have  fulfilled  its  inter 
national  obligations?  Is  he  willing  to  bring 
that  indictment  against  this  beloved  country? 

My  fellow-citizens,  we  never  did  fail  to  fulfil 
any  obligations  we  have  made.  And,  with 
God  to  guide  and  help  us,  we  never  will.  And 
I,  for  one,  am  not  going  to  admit  in  any  con 
nection  the  slightest  doubt  that  if  we  ever 
choose  to  withdraw  we  will  not  have  fulfilled 
our  obligations. 

Because  if  we  make  reservations,  as  they  are 
called,  about  this,  what  do  we  do?  This  cove 
nant  does  not  set  up  any  tribunal  to  judge 
whether  we  have  fulfilled  our  obligations  at 
that  time  or  not.  There  is  only  one  thing  to 
restrain  us,  and  that  is  the  opinion  of  man 
kind.  Are  these  gentlemen  such  poor  patriots 
that  they  are  afraid  the  United  States  will  cut 
a  poor  figure  in  the  opinion  of  mankind  ?  And 


RESERVATIONS  MEAN  DELAY      119 

do  they  think  that  they  can  bring  this  great 
people  to  withdraw  from  that  League  if  at 
that  time  their  withdrawal  would  be  con 
demned  by  the  opinion  of  mankind  ? 

We  always  have  been  at  pains  to  earn  the 
respect  of  mankind,  and  we  shall  always  be  at 
pains  to  retain  it.  I,  for  one,  am  too  proud  as 
an  American  to  say  that  any  doubt  will  ever 
hang  upon  our  right  to  withdraw  upon  the 
conditions  of  the  fulfilment  of  our  inter 
national  obligations. 

But  I  must  not  turn  away  from  this  great 
subject  without  attention  to  the  Shantung 
clause,  the  provision  with  regard  to  the  transfer 
of  certain  German  rights  in  that  province  of 
Shantung,  China,  to  Japan.  I  frankly  said  to 
my  Japanese  colleagues  at  the  conference — 
therefore  I  can  without  impropriety  say  it 
here— that  I  was  very  deeply  dissatisfied 
with  that  part  of  the  treaty. 

But,  my  fellow-citizens,  Japan  agreed  at  that 
very  time,  and  as  part  of  the  understanding 
upon  which  these  clauses  were  put  into  the 
treaty,  that  she  would  relinquish  every  item  of 
sovereignty  that  Germany  had  enjoyed  to 
China,  and  that  she  would  retain  what  other 
nations  have  elsewhere  in  China — certain 
economic  concessions  with  regard  to  the  rail 
ways  and  the  mines,  which  she  was  to  operate 
under  a  corporation  and  subject  to  the  laws  of 
China,  As  I  say,  I  wish  she  would  have  done 


120       THE  HOPE  OF  THE  WORLD 

more,  but  suppose,  as  some  have  suggested, 
that  we  dissent  from  that  clause  in  the  treaty  ? 

You  can't  sign  all  of  a  treaty  but  one  part, 
my  fellow-citizens.  It  is  like  the  President's 
veto;  he  can't  veto  provisions  of  a  bill;  he 
has  got  either  to  sign  the  bill  or  veto  it.  We 
can't  sign  the  treaty  with  the  Shantung  pro 
vision  out  of  it,  and  if  we  could,  what  sort  of 
service  would  that  be  doing  China? 

If  I  felt  that  I  personally  in  any  way  stood 
in  the  way  of  this  settlement,  I  would  be  glad 
to  die  that  it  might  be  consummated,  because 
I  have  a  vision,  my  fellow-citizens,  that  if  this 
thing  should  by  some  mishap  not  be  accom 
plished  there  would  arise  from  that  upon  the 
fair  name  of  this  people  a  stain  which  never 
could  be  effaced,  which  would  be  intolerable  to 
every  lover  of  America,  intolerable  to  every 
man  who  knew  America  and  was  ready  with 
stout  heart  to  uphold  it. 


XIV 

A  TURNING-POINT  IN   HISTORY 
(Sioux  FALLS,  SOUTH  DAKOTA,  September  8,  1919) 

President  Wilson  spoke  in  part  as  follows: 

I  MUST  admit  that  every  time  I  face  a  great 
audience  of  my  fellow-countrymen  on  this 
trip  I  am  filled  with  a  feeling  of  peculiar  solem 
nity,  because  I  believe,  my  fellow-countrymen, 
that  we  have  come  to  one  of  the  turning-points 
in  the  history  of  the  world.  And  what  I,  as 
an  American,  covet  for  this  great  country  is 
that  on  every  great  occasion  when  mankind's 
fprtunes  are  hung  in  the  balance,  America 
may  have  the  distinction  of  leading  the  way. 

I  want  to  remind  you,  my  fellow-country 
men  that  that  war  was  not  an  accident;  that 
that  war  didn't  just  happen.  There  was  not 
some  sudden  cause  which  brought  on  the  con 
flagration.  On  the  contrary,  Germany  had 
been  preparing  for  that  war  for  generations. 
Germany  had  been  preparing  every  resource 
and  perfecting  every  skill,  developing  every 
invention  which  would  enable  her  to  master 


122       THE  HOPE  OF  THE  WORLD 

the  European  world  and  to  dominate  the  rest 
of  the  world. 

Everybody  had  been  looking  on.  Everybody 
had  known — for  example,  it  was  known  in 
every  war-office  in  Europe  and  in  the  depart 
ment  at  Washington — that  the  Germans  not 
only  had  a  vast  supply  of  field-guns,  but  they 
had  ammunition  enough  for  every  one  of  these 
guns  to  wear  out  the  guns.  And  yet  we  were 
living  in  a  fool's  paradise.  We  thought  Ger 
many  meant  what  she  said,  that  she  was 
armed  for  defense,  and  that  she  never  would. 
use  that  great  store  of  guns  against  her  fellow- 
men.  Why,  my  friends,  it  was  foreordained 
the  minute  Germany  conceived  these  purposes 
that  she  should  do  the  thing  which  she  did  in 
1914. 

Now  I  have  brought  back  from  Europe  with 
me,  my  fellow-citizens,  a  treaty  in  which  Ger 
many  is  disarmed  and  in  which  all  the  other 
nations  of  the  world  agree  never  to  go  to  war. 
[Applause.]  That  is  all. 

If  Germany  had  dreamed  that  anything  like 
the  greater  part  of  the  world  would  combine 
against  her,  she  never  would  have  begun  the 
war,  and  she  didn't  dare  to  let  the  opinions  of 
mankind  crystallize  against  her,  by  the  dis 
cussion  of  the  purposes  which  she  had  in  mind. 

So  what  I  want  to  point  out  to  you  is  that 
we  are  making  a  fundamental  choice.  You 
cannot  have  a  new  system  unless  you  supply  a 


A  TURNING-POINT  IN  HISTORY      123 

substitute,  an  adequate  substitute  for  the  old, 
and  I  want  to  say  that  when  certain  of  our 
fellow-citizens  take  the  position  that  we  do  not 
want  to  go  into  it  alone,  but  want  to  take  care 
of  ourselves,  I  say  that  is  the  German  position. 

Germany,  through  the  mouth  of  her  Em- 
.peror,  through  her  writers,  and  through  every 
!action,  said:  "Here  we  stand  ready  to  take 
care  of  ourselves.  We  will  not  enter  into  any 
combination.  We  are  armed  for  self-defense 
i  and  we  know  that  no  nation  can  compete  with 
us."  That  appears  to  be  the  American  pro 
gram  in  the  eyes  of  some  gentlemen,  and  I 
;  want  to  tell  you  that  in  the  last  two  weeks  the 
pro-Germanism  element  has  lifted  its  head 
again.  It  says,  "I  see  a  chance  for  Germany 
and  America  to  stay  out  and  take  care  of 
themselves." 

There  were  passions  let  loose  on  the  field  of 
the  world  at  war  which  have  not  grown  quiet, 
and  which  will  not  for  a  long  time.  Every 
element  of  disorder  is  hoping  that  there  will  be 
no  staying  hand  from  the  Council  of  Nations 
to  hold  the  order  of  the  world  steady  until  we 
can  make  the  final  arrangements  of  justice  and 
peace. 

I  sometimes  think,  when  I  wake  up  in  the 
night,  of  the  wakeful  nights  that  anxious 
fathers,  mothers,  and  friends  spent  during  the 
weary  years  of  the  awful  war,  and  I  hear  the 
cry  of  mothers  of  the  children,  millions  on  the 


i24       THE  HOPE  OF  THE  WORLD 

other  side  and  thousands  on  this  side,  in  God's 
name  give  us  security,  peace,  and  right. 

America  can  stay  out,  but  I  want  you  to 
witness  that  the  peace  of  the  world  cannot  be 
established  with  the  peace  of  the  individual 
nations.  America  is  necessary  to  the  peace  of 
the  world. 

The  peace  and  good  will  of  the  world  are 
necessary  to  America,  lest  you  disappoint  the 
world,  center  its  suspicion  on  you,  make  it  feel 
that  you  are  filled  with  jealousy  and  selfishness. 

We  are  not  thinking  of  money,  we  are  think 
ing  of  redeeming  the  reputation  of  America, 
rather  than  to  have  all  of  the  money  in  the 
world.  I  am  not  ready  to  die  for  money,  and 
neither  are  you,  but  you  and  I  are  ready  to  die 
for  America. 


XV 

THE   FIRST  PEOPLE'S  TREATY 
(BILLINGS,  MONTANA,  September  n,  1919) 

The  President  spoke  in  part  as  follows: 

I  HAVE  come  to  consult  with  you  in  the  light 
of  certain  circumstances  which  I  want  to  ex 
plain  to  you — circumstances  which  affect  not 
only  this  great  nation  which  we  love  and  which 
we  try  to  constitute  an  honorable  part,  but 
also  affect  the  whole  world.  I  wonder  when 
we  speak  of  the  whole  world  whether  we  have 
a  true  conception  of  the  fact  that  the  human 
heart  beats  everywhere  the  same. 

We  are  making  a  mistake,  I  take  the  liberty 
of  saying,  in  debating  it  as  if  it  were  an  ordi 
nary  treaty  with  some  particular  country,  a 
treaty  we  could  ourselves  modify  without  con 
flicting  with  the  affairs  of  the  world,  whereas, 
as  matters  were,  it  is  not  really  a  treaty  with 
Germany.  Matters  were  drawn  into  this 
treaty  which  affected  the  peace  and  happiness 
of  the  whole  continent  of  Europe,  America, 
and  the  furthermost  populations  in  Africa,  the 
peoples  we  hardly  know  about  in  the  usual 


126       THE  HOPE  OF  THE  WORLD 

affairs  of  our  country,  where  the  influence  of 
German  policy  had  existed  and  everywhere 
that  influence  had  to  be  guarded,  had  to  be 
rejected,  had  to  be  altered. 

Consider  the  circumstances.  For  the  first 
time  in  the  world  some  twenty  nations  sent 
their  men,  thoughtful  and  responsible  men,  to 
consult  together  at  the  capital  of  France  to 
effect  a  settlement  of  the  affairs  of  the  world, 
and  I  want  to  render  my  testimony  that  these 
gentlemen  entered  upon  their  deliberations 
with  great  openness  of  mind.  Their  dis 
cussions  were  characterized  by  the  utmost 
candor,  and  they  realized,  my  fellow-citizens, 
what,  as  a  student  of  history,  I  venture  to  say, 
no  similar  body  ever  acknowledged  before— 
that  they  were  nobody's  masters.  They  did 
not  have  the  right  to  vary  a  line  to  any  na 
tion's  advantage  in  determining  on  the  settle 
ments  and  the  basis  of  peace;  they  were  in 
the  service  of  their  people  and  the  service  of 
the  world. 

This  settlement,  my  fellow-citizens,  is  the 
first  international  settlement  intended  for  the 
happiness  and  safety  of  men  and  women 
throughout  the  world.  This  is  in  deed  and  in 
truth  a  people's  treaty.  It  is  the  first  people's 
treaty,  and  I  venture  to  say  that  no  Parlia 
ment  or  Congress  will  attempt  to  alter  it. 
And  it  is  this  treaty  or  no  treaty.  It  is  this 
treaty  because  there  can  be  no  other, 


THE  FIRST  PEOPLE'S  TREATY     127 

It  is  a  people's  treaty,  notwithstanding  the 
fact  that  it  is  also  a  treaty  with  Germany,  and 
it  is  not  an  unjust  treaty  with  Germany,  as 
isome  have  characterized  it. 

My  fellow-citizens,  Germany  tried  to  com- 
fmit  a  crime  against  civilization,  and  this 
|  treaty  is  justified  as  a  memorandum  to  make 
I  Germany  pay  for  the  crime  up  to  her  full 
i  capacity  for  payment. 

Some  of  the  very  gentlemen  who  are  now 
I  characterizing  this  treaty  as  harsh  are  the 
same  men  who  less  than  twelve  months  ago 
were  criticizing  the  Administration  at  Wash 
ington  in  the  fear  that  we  would  compound  the 
crime.  They  were  pitiless  then;  they  are 
pitiful  now. 

It  is  meet,  my  fellow-citizens,  that  we  should 
not  forget  what  this  war  meant.  I  am  amazed 
at  the  indications  that  we  are  forgetting  what 
we  went  through.  There  are  some  indications 
that  on  the  other  side  of  the  water  they  are 
about  to  forget  what  they  went  through.  I 
venture  to  say  that  there  are  thousands  of 
parents,  fathers,  mothers,  wives,  sisters,  sweet 
hearts,  who  are  never  going  to  forget  what 
they  went  through. 

Thousands  of  our  gallant  youth  lie  buried  in 
France.  Buried  for  what?  For  the  protection  of 
America  ?  America  was  not  directly  attacked. 
For  the  salvation  of  mankind  everywhere  and 
not  alone  for  the  salvation  of  America. 


128       THE  HOPE  OF  THE  WORLD 

I  appeared  once  in  the  presence  of  a  little 
handful  of  men  whom  I  revere,  who  fought  in 
the  Civil  War,  and  it  seems  to  me  that  they 
fought  for  the  great  principle  in  their  day,  and 
we  know  with  what  reverence  we  look  upon 
these  men  who  fought  for  the  safety  of  the 
nation.  I  say  this,  although  I  was  born 
below  the  Mason  and  Dixon  line. 

We  are  not  going  to  deny  those  sentiments 
to  the  boys  who  were  in  this  war.  Don't  you 
think  that  when  they  are  old  men  a  halo  will 
seem  to  be  about  them  because  they  were 
crusaders  for  the  liberty  of  the  civilized  world  ? 
One  of  the  hardest  things  for  me  to  do  among 
the  many  men  of  this  country  was  merely  to 
advise  and  direct  and  not  take  a  gun  and  go 
myself. 

The  fundamental  feature  of  this  treaty  is  the 
principle  that  had  its  birth  and  growth  in  this 
country — that  the  countries  of  the  world  be 
long  to  the  people  who  live  in  them.  And 
they  have  a  right  to  determine  their  own 
affairs,  their  own  form  of  government,  their 
own  policy,  and  that  no  body  of  statesmen, 
sitting  anywhere  in  the  world,  should  have  the 
right  to  assign  to  any  people  any  advantage. 

This  is  the  great  treaty  which  is  to  be  de 
bated.  This  is  the  treaty  which  is  to  be 
examined  with  a  microscope.  My  friends,  are 
you  going  to  be  narrow-minded  enough  and 
near-sighted  enough  to  allow  them  to  weigh 


THE  FIRST  PEOPLE'S  TREATY     129 

that  great  charter  of  human  liberty  in  that 
way?  That  is  impossible. 

Now  the  chance  is  there  to  accept  this 
treaty  or  play  a  lone  hand.  What  does  that 
mean?  To  play  a  lone  hand  now  means  that 
we  must  always  be  ready  to  play  by  ourselves. 
It  means  that  we  must  always  be  armed,  that 
we  must  always  be  ready  to  mobilize  the  man 
strength  and  the  manufacturing  resources  of 
the  country.  That  means  that  we  must  con 
tinue  to  live  under  not  diminishing  but  in 
creasing  taxes  and  be  strong  enough  to  beat 
any  nation  in  the  world,  and  absolutely  con 
trary  to  the  high  ideals  of  American  history. 
If  you  are  going  to  play  a  lone  hand,  the  hand 
that  you  play  must  be  upon  the  handle  of  the 
sword. 

The  lone  hand  must  have  a  weapon  in  it, 
and  the  weapon  must  be  the  young  men  of  the 
country,  trained  to  arms,  and  the  business  of 
the  country  must  be  prepared  for  making 
armament  and  arms  for  the  men.  And  do  you 
suppose,  my  fellow-citizens  that  any  nation  is 
willing  to  stand  for  that  ? 

The  fact  that  the  world  is  in  a  state  of  un 
settled  unrest  is  not  due  to  the  extreme  condi 
tions  arising  out  of  the  war  and  the  extraor 
dinary  circumstances.  It  is  due  to  the  unusual 
effect  of  the  conditions  under  which  men  live 
and  labor  which  now  exist.  That  is  the  con 
dition  all  over  the  world.  There  is  no  use  in 


130       THE  HOPE  OF  THE  WORLD 

talking  about  a  political  democracy  unless  we 
also  have  an  industrial  democracy. 

This  is  the  best  treaty  that  can  possibly  be 
got,  and  in  my  judgment  it  is  a  mighty  good 
treaty  if  it  has  justice,  or  an  attempt  at  jus 
tice,  at  any  rate,  at  the  heart  of  it. 

Don't  you  think  some  insurance  is  better 
than  none  at  all,  and  the  security  obtained  by 
this  treaty  at  its  minimum  as  it  is,  is  a  great 
deal  better  than  no  security  at  all,  and  without 
it  there  is  no  security  at  all  ? 

The  leisureliness  of  some  of  the  debate  cre 
ates  the  impression  in  my  mind  that  some  men 
think  there  is  leisure.  There  is  no  leisure  in 
the  world  with  regard  to  the  reform  of  the  con 
ditions  under  which  men  live.  I  desire  to  say 
that,  as  many  of  you  know,  I  have  called  a 
conference  to  sit  in  Washington  the  first  week 
of  next  month;  a  conference  of  men  in  the 
habit  of  managing  business  and  of  men  engaged 
in  manual  labor;  what  we  generally  call  em 
ployers  and  employees.  And  I  have  called 
them  together  for  the  sake  of  getting  their 
minds  together,  and  getting  their  purposes 
together,  getting  them  to  look  at  the  factors  of 
our  life  at  the  same  time,  in  the  same  light,  and 
from  the  same  angle  so  that  they  can  see  the 
things  that  ought  to  be  done. 

The  President  went  on : 

We  have  served  mankind  and  we  shall  con 
tinue  to  serve  mankind,  for  I  believe  that  we 


THE  FIRST  PEOPLE'S  TREATY     131 

are  the  flower  of  mankind  so  far  as  civilization 
is  concerned. 

I  am  just  as  sure  what  the  verdict  will  be 
as  if  already  rendered,  and  what  has  con 
vinced  me  most  is  what  plain  people  have 
said  to  me,  particularly  what  women  have 
said  to  me.  But  when  I  see  a  woman  with 
marks  of  labor  upon  her,  and  she  says,  "God 
bless  you,  Mr.  President,  and  God  bless  the 
League  of  Nations,"  then  I  know  the  League 
of  Nations  is  safe.  I  know  the  League  of 
Nations  is  close  to  the  hearts  of  these  people. 

A  woman  came  to  me  the  other  day  and  took 
my  hand  and  said,  "God  bless  you,  Mr.  Presi 
dent,"  and  turned  away  in  tears.  I  asked  a 
neighbor,  "What  is  the  matter?"  and  he  said, 
"She  was  intending  to  say  something  to  you, 
but  she  lost  a  son  in  France." 

That  woman  did  not  take  my  hand  with  the 
feeling  that  her  son  should  not  be  sent  to 
France.  I  sent  her  son  to  France.  She  took 
my  hand  and  blessed  it,  but  she  could  not  say 
anything  more  because  a  whole  world  of  spirit 
came  up  in  her  throat.  Down  deep  in  the 
heart  of  love  for  her  boy  she  felt  that  we  had 
done  something  so  that  no  other  woman's  boy 
would  be  called  upon  to  lay  his  life  down  for  a 
thing  like  that. 

I  anticipate  your  verdict  to  what  I  am 
pledged  with  deep  and  serious  thought,  to 

satisfy  the  heart  of  the  world. 
10 


XVI 

THE  TASK  ONLY   HALF  DONE 
(HELENA,  MONTANA,  September  u,  ipip) 

The  President's  speech  was  in  part  as  follows: 

I  WANT  to  say  to  you  very  solemnly  that 
notwithstanding  the  splendid  achievement  of 
our  boys  on  the  other  side  of  the  sea,  who,  I 
don't  hesitate  to  say,  saved  the  world;  not 
withstanding  the  noble  things  that  they  did, 
their  task  is  only  half  done,  and  it  remains  for 
us  to  complete  it.  If  we  left  the  thing  where 
it  is  and  did  not  carry  out  the  program  of  the 
treaty  of  peace  in  all  its  fullness  men  like  these 
would  have  to  die  to  do  the  work  over  again 
and  convince  provincial  statesmen  that  the 
world  is  one,  and  that  only  by  an  organization 
of  the  world  can  you  save  the  young  men  of 
the  world.  [Applause.] 

As  I  think  upon  this  theme  there  is  a  picture 
very  distinctly  in  my  mind.  On  last  Memorial 
Day  I  stood  in  an  American  cemetery  in 
France,  just  outside  Paris,  on  the  slopes  of 
Suresnes.  The  hill  slopes  to  a  little  plain. 


THE  TASK  ONLY  HALF  DONE     133 

When  I  went  out  there  all  the  slope  of  the  hill 
was  covered  with  men  in  the  American  uni 
form,  standing,  but  rising  tier  on  tier  as  if  on 
a  great  witness-stand.  Then  below  them  over 
a  little  level  space  were  simple  crosses  that 
marked  the  resting-place  of  the  American 
dead,  and  just  by  the  stand  where  I  spoke  was 
a  group  of  Frenchwomen  who  had  lost  their 
own  sons.  Just  because  they  had  lost  their 
sons  and  because  their  hearts  went  out  in 
thought  and  sympathy  to  the  mothers  on  this 
side  of  the  sea,  they  had  made  themselves,  so 
to  say,  mothers  of  those  graves,  and  every  day 
had  gone  to  take  care  of  them,  every  day  had 
strewn  them  with  flowers.  And  they  stood 
there,  their  cheeks  wetted  with  tears,  while  I 
spoke,  not  of  the  French  dead,  but  of  the 
American  boys  who  had  died  in  the  common 
cause. 

They  seemed  to  be  thrown  together  in  that 
day  and  in  that  little  spot  with  the  hearts  of 
the  world,  and  I  took  occasion  to  say  that  day 
that  those  who  stood  in  the  way  of  completing 
the  task  those  men  had  died  for  would  some 
day  look  back  upon  it  as  those  others  have 
looked  back  upon  the  days  when  they  tried  to 
divide  this  Union  and  prevent  it  from  being  a 
single  nation,  united  in  a  single  form  of  liberty. 
For  the  completion  of  the  work  of  those  men 
is  this:  That  the  thing  that  they  fought  to 
stop  shall  never  be  attempted  again. 


THE  HOPE  OF  THE  WORLD 

I  call  to  your  minds  that  we  did  not  go  into 
this  war  willingly.  I  was  in  a  position  to 
know.  In  the  providence  of  God  the  leader 
ship  of  this  nation  was  intrusted  to  me  during 
those  early  years  of  the  war  when  we  were  not 
in  it.  I  was  aware  through  many  subtle  chan 
nels  of  the  movement  of  opinion  in  this  coun 
try,  and  I  know  that  the  thing  that  this  country 
chiefly  desired,  that  you  here  in  the  West 
chiefly  desired,  the  thing  that,  of  course,  every 
living  woman  had  at  her  heart,  was  that  we 
should  keep  out  of  the  war. 

I  remember,  not  once,  but  often,  sitting  at 
the  Cabinet  table  in  Washington,  and  I  asked 
my  colleagues  what  their  impression  of  the 
opinion  of  the  country  was  before  we  went 
into  the  war,  and  I  remember  one  day  one  of 
my  colleagues  said  to  me,  "Mr.  President,  I 
think  the  people  of  the  country  would  take  our 
advice  and  do  what  you  suggested." 

But  I  said :  "That  is  not  what  I  am  waiting 
for.  If  they  cannot  go  in  with  a  whoop,  there 
is  no  use  going  in.  I  don't  want  them  to  wait 
on  me;  I  am  waiting  on  them.  I  want  to 
know  what  the  conscience  of  this  country  is 
saying.  I  want  to  know  what  ideas  are  arising 
in  the  minds  of  the  people  of  this  country  with 
regard  to  this  war  situation." 

The  German  people  is  a  great,  educated 
people.  So  far  as  I  have  been  able  to  learn, 
they  are  following  peaceful  pursuits.  The 


THE  TASK  ONLY  HALF  DONE  135 

bankers  and  the  merchants  and  the  manufact 
urers  did  not  want  to  go  into  that  war. 
They  have  said  that  they  were  not  consulted. 
But  the  masters  of  Germany  were  the  General 
Military  Staff.  Not  even  the  members  of  the 
Reichstag  were  consulted  by  the  General  Staff, 
and  it  was  these  men  who  nearly  brought  a 
complete  catastrophe  upon  civilization  itself. 

America  has,  if  I  may  take  the  liberty  of 
saying  so,  a  greater  interest  in  the  prevention 
of  war  than  any  other  nation.  America  is  less 
exhausted  by  war — she  is  not  exhausted  at  all. 
America  has  paid  for  the  war  that  has  gone  less 
heavily  in  proportion  to  her  wealth  than  other 
nations.  America  still  has  capital — capital 
enough  for  its  own  industries  and  for  the  indus 
tries  of  the  other  countries  that  have  to  build 
their  industries  anew ;  and  the  next  war  would 
have  to  be  paid  for  in  American  blood  and 
American  money. 

The  nation,  of  all  nations,  that  is  most  in 
terested  to  prevent  the  recurrence  of  what  has 
already  happened  is  the  nation  which  would 
assuredly  have  to  bear  the  brunt  of  that  great 
catastrophe.  [Applause.] 


XVII 

RESERVATIONS   NOT  NECESSARY 
(SPOKANE,  WASHINGTON,  September  12,  1919) 

President  Wilson's  address  was  in  part  as 
follows: 

I  WANT  to  discuss  with  you  very  frankly  in 
deed,  just  as  frankly  as  I  know  how,  the  diffi 
culty  that  has  been  suggested,  because  I  think 
that  not  one  of  the  qualifications  which  have 
been  suggested  in  this  discussion  is  justified 
by  the  language  of  the  instrument. 

It  is  provided  that  any  member  state  may 
withdraw  from  the  League  upon  two  years' 
notice,  provided  that  at  the  time  of  with 
drawal  it  has  fulfilled  its  national  obligations 
and  the  obligations  under  the  covenant.  And 
gentlemen  object  that  it  is  not  said  who  shall 
determine  whether  it  has  fulfilled  its  inter 
national  obligations  and  its  obligations  under 
the  covenant  or  not. 

Having  sat  at  the  table  where  the  instru 
ment  was  drawn,  I  know  that  that  was  not 
done  accidentally,  because  that  is  a  matter 
upon  which  no  nation  can  sit  in  judgment 


RESERVATIONS  NOT  NECESSARY     137 

upon  another.  That  is  left  to  the  consciences 
and  to  the  independent  determination  of  the 
nation  that  is  withdrawing.  And  there  is 
only  one  jury  that  it  need  fear  and  that  is  the 
great  embodied  jury,  expressing  the  opinions 
of  mankind. 

There  is  one  part  of  the  covenant — the  prin 
cipal  part  of  it  where  it  speaks  of  arbitration 
and  where  it  provides  that  any  member  state 
failing  to  keep  these  covenants  (these  particu 
lar  covenants)  shall  be  regarded  as  thereby 
ipso  facto  to  have  committed  an  act  of  war 
against  the  other  members.  The  way  it 
originally  read  was  "shall  thereby  ipso  facto 
be  deemed  at  war  with  the  other  nations,"  and 
I  said:  "No,  I  cannot  agree  to  that.  That 
provision  would  put  the  United  States  at  war 
without  the  consent  of  the  Congress  of  the 
United  States,  and  I  have  no  right  in  this  part 
of  the  covenant,  or  any  other,  to  consent  to  a 
provision  which  would  deprive  the  Congress 
of  the  United  States  of  its  free  choice,  whether 
it  makes  war  or  not." 

At  every  point  in  the  covenant  where  it  was 
necessary  to  do  so  I  insisted  upon  language 
which  would  leave  the  Congress  of  the  United 
States  free. 

I  fought  that  fight  and  I  won  it.  They 
don't  have  to  fight  it  over  again.  [Cheers.] 

Taking  up  the  proposed  reservation  to 
Article  X,  the  President  said  that  the  vote  of 


138       THE  HOPE  OF  THE  WORLD 

the  United  States  would  be  required  to  insure 
any  decision  of  the  League  covenant. 

Yet  I  hear  gentlemen  say,  he  went  on, 
that  this  is  a  violation  of  our  sovereignty. 
If  it  is  anything  it  is  an  exaggeration  of  our 
sovereignty.  This  extends  our  sovereignty 
to  saying  whether  other  nations  shall  go  to  war 
or  not. 

He  went  on: 

You  will  say,  ''It  is  all  very  well,  what  you 
say  about  the  word  of  the  United  States  being 
necessary,  provided  the  United  States  is  not 
one  of  the  parties  to  the  dispute.  In  that 
case  it  cannot  vote.'*  That  is  very  true,  but 
in  that  case  it  has  got  the  fight  on  its  hands, 
anyhow,  because  if  it  is  one  of  the  parties  to 
the  dispute  the  war  belongs  to  it.  It  does  not 
have  to  go  into  it.  Therefore  it  cannot  be 
forced  by  the  vote  into  the  war.  The  only 
thing  the  vote  can  do  is  to  force  it  out  of  the 
war. 

And  I  want  to  ask  you  to  think  what  it 
means  when  it  is  suggested  that  the  United 
States  may  be  a  party.  A  party  to  what  ?  A 
party  to  seize  somebody's  property?  A  party 
to  infringe  some  other  country's  political  inde 
pendence  ?  Is  any  one  willing  to  stand  on  this 
platform  and  say  that  the  United  States  is 
likely  to  do  either  of  these  things?  I  chal 
lenge  any  man  to  stand  before  an  American 
audience  and  say  that  is  the  danger. 


RESERVATIONS  NOT  NECESSARY     139 

Ah,  but  some  one  may  seek  to  seize  our  terri 
tory,  impair  our  political  independence.  Well, 
who?  Who  has  an  arm  long  enough,  who  has 
an  audacity  great  enough,  to  try  to  take  a 
single  inch  of  American  territory,  to  seek  to 
interfere  for  one  moment  with  the  political 
independence  of  the  United  States? 

These  gentlemen  are  dreaming  of  things 
that  can't  happen.  And  I  cannot  bring  myself 
to  feel  uneasy  about  things  that  I  know  are 
not  so.  The  great  difficulty  in  this  discussion, 
as  in  many  others,  is  the  number  of  things 
that  men  know  are  not  so. 


XVIII 

UNDERWRITING  CIVILIZATION 
(TACOMA,  WASHINGTON,  September  13,  1919) 

President  Wilson's  address  at  the  Armory  was 
in  part  as  follows: 

I  FEEL,  as  I  am  sure  you  feel,  that  we  have 
reached  one  of  the  most  critical  periods  in  the 
history  of  the  United  States. 

The  shadow  of  the  war  is  not  lifted  from  us, 
and  we  have  just  come  out  of  the  depths  of  the 
valley  of  death. 

I  want  to  remind  you  many  other  nations 
were  put  under  a  deeper  temptation  than  we. 
It  would  have  been  possible  for  little,  helpless 
Belgium  at  any  time  to  make  terms  with  the 
enemy.  Belgium  knew  that  resistance  was 
useless.  Belgium  knew  that  she  could  get 
any  terms  of  advantage  from  Germany  that 
she  pleased,  if  she  would  only  submit.  And  at 
the  cost  of  everything  that  she  had  Belgium 
did  nothing  else  than  underwrite  civilization. 
I  do  not  know  anywhere  in  history  of  a  more 
inspiring  fact  than  that. 


UNDERWRITING  CIVILIZATION     141 

Belgium  lies  prostrate  because  she  fulfilled 
her  pledge  to  civilization. 

Italy  could  have  had  her  terms  at  the  hands 
of  Austria  at  almost  any  periods  of  the  war, 
particularly  just  before  she  made  her  final 
stand  at  the  Piave  River,  but  she  would  not 
compound  with  the  enemy.  She,  too,  had 
underwritten  civilization. 

And  this  passage  which  I  have  read  to  you, 
which  the  whole  country  accepted  as  its  pledge, 
is  but  an  underwriting  of  civilization. 

But  in  order  to  let  you  remember  what  the 
thing  cost,  just  let  me  read  you  a  few  figures.  If 
I  did  not  have  them  on  official  authority  I  would 
deem  them  incredible.  Here  is  what  the  war 
cost  those  who  were  engaged  against  Germany : 

Great  Britain  and  her  dominions,  $38,000,- 
000,000;  France,  $26,000,000,000;  the  United 
States,  $22,000,000,000;  Russia,  $18,000,000,- 
ooo;  Italy,  $13,000,000,000,  and  the  total, 
including  Belgium,  Japan,  and  other  smaller 
countries,  $133,000,000,000. 

It  cost  the  Central  Powers:  Germany, 
$39,000,000,000;  Austria-Hungary,  $21,000,- 
000,000;  Turkey  and  Bulgaria,  $3,000,000,000, 
a  total  of  $63,000,000,000;  a  grand  total  of 
direct  war  cost  of  $186,000,000,000 — an  in 
credible  sum  to  save  civilization. 

Now  the  question  is,  are  we  going  to  keep 
safe?  The  expenditures  of  the  United  States 
were  at  the  rate  of  $1,000,000  an  hour  for  two 


i42       THE  HOPE  OF  THE  WORLD 

years,  $1,000,000  an  hour,  including  the  night- 
time,  for  two  years !  Battle  deaths  (and  this  is 
the  cost  that  touches  our  hearts)  were :  Russia, 
1,700,000;  Germany,  1,600,000;  France,  1,385,- 
ooo ;  Great  Britain,  900,000;  Austria,  800,000; 
Italy,  364,000;  the  United  States,  50,300;  a 
total  of  all  belligerents  of  7,450,200  men  dead 
on  the  field  of  battle. 

The  total  wounded  for  the  United  States 
army  was  230,000,  excluding  those,  of  course, 
who  were  killed. 

The  total  of  all  battle  deaths  in  all  of  the 
wars  of  the  world  from  the  years  1793  to  1914 
were  something  under  6,000,000.  So  that  in 
all  the  wars  of  the  world  for  more  than  one 
hundred  years  fewer  men  died  than  have  been 
killed  upon  the  field  of  battle  in  the  last  five 
years.  These  are  terrible  facts  and  we  ought 
never  to  forget  them. 

America  alone  cannot  underwrite  civiliza 
tion.  All  the  great  free  peoples  of  the  world 
must  underwrite  it,  and  only  the  free  peoples 
of  the  world  can  join  the  League  of  Nations. 
Germany  is  for  the  present  excluded  because 
she  must  prove  that  she  is  self-governing. 
She  must  prove  that  she  has  changed  the  proc 
ess  of  her  constitution  and  the  purpose  of  her 
power.  When  she  has  proved  these  things, 
she  can  become  one  of  the  partners,  guaran 
teeing  that  civilization  shall  not  suffer  again 
these  intolerable_things. 


UNDERWRITING  CIVILIZATION     143 

The  League  is  not  only  a  union  of  free 
peoples  to  guarantee  civilization;  it  is  some 
thing  much  more  than  that.  It  is  a  League 
of  Nations  to  advance  civilization  by  substitut 
ing  something  that  will  make  the  improvement 
of  civilization  possible. 

I  call  you  to  witness  that  our  civilization  is 
not  satisfactory.  It  is  an  industrial  civiliza 
tion,  and  at  the  heart  of  it  is  an  antagonism 
between  those  who  labor  with  their  hands  and 
those  who  direct  labor.  You  cannot  compose 
those  differences  in  the  midst  of  war,  and  you 
cannot  advance  civilization  unless  you  have  a 
peace  of  which  you  make  the  fullest  use  in 
bringing  these  elements  of  civilization  together 
into  a  common  partnership  in  which  every  man 
will  have  the  same  interest  in  the  work  of  his 
community  that  those  have  who  direct  the 
work  of  the  community.  We  have  got  to  have 
leisure  and  freedom  of  mind  to  settle  these 
things. 

This  was  a  war  against  autocracy,  and  if 
you  have  disordered,  if  you  have  disrupted, 
populations,  if  you  have  insurgent  elements  in 
your  populations,  you  are  going  to  have  au- 
cocracy,  because  the  stronger  is  going  to  seize 
the  power  as  it  has  seized  it  in  Russia. 

I  want  to  declare  that  I  am  the  enemy  of  the 
rulership  of  any  minority,  however  constituted. 
Minorities  often  have  been  right,  but  they  cease 
to  be  right  when  they  use  disorderly  means. 


i44       THE  HOPE  OF  THE  WORLD 

I  believe  for  my  part  that  the  League  of 
Nations  covenant  is  98  per  cent,  insurance 
against  war.  I  take  it  you  want  some  assur 
ance  against  war.  Even  if  it  were  only  a  10- 
per-cent.  insurance  it  would  be  worth  while. 

It  is  of  particular  importance  to  remember  at 
this  moment,  when  some  men  have  dared  to 
introduce  party  passion  into  this  question, 
that  some  of  the  leading  spirits,  perhaps  I 
might  say  the  leading  spirit,  in  the  concep 
tion  of  this  great  idea  were  leading  figures  of 
the  Republican  party. 

[On  his  first  return  from  Paris,  Mr.  Wilson 
went  on,  he  had  received  certain  suggestions 
from  the  Senate  Foreign  Relations  Committee, 
which  came  for  the  most  part  from  the  Re 
publican  side  of  the  committee.  Returning 
to  the  Peace  Conference,  he  said,  he  had  seen 
that  they  were  carried  out.  He  continued:] 

When  I  advocated  the  things  in  this  League 
of  Nations,  I  had  the  full  and  proud  conscious 
ness  that  I  was  only  expressing  the  best 
thought  and  the  best  conscience  of  my  beloved 
fellow-countrymen . 

The  only  things  that  I  have  any  special 
connection  with  in  the  League  of  Nations  cove 
nant  are  things  that  I  was  careful  to  have  put 
in  there  because  of  the  very  considerations 
that  are  now  being  urged. 

One  of  the  most  distinguished  lawyers  of  the 
United  States,  Mr.  Wickersham  of  New  York, 


UNDERWRITING  CIVILIZATION     145 

who  was  the  Attorney-General  in  Mr.  Taft's 
Cabinet,  came  over  to  Europe,  I  am  told,  to 
oppose  the  things  that  he  understood  the 
American  Peace  Mission  was  trying  to  accom 
plish.  And  what  happened  to  Mr.  Wicker- 
sham  ?  He  was  absolutely  converted,  above  all 
things  else,  to  the  necessity  of  having  a  League 
of  Nations  not  only,  but  this  League  of  Na 
tions.  I  need  not  tell  you  of  the  conspicu 
ously  fine  work  which  his  chief,  Mr.  Taft,  has 
been  doing  in  the  same  cause. 

I  say  these  things  because  I  want  to  read 
the  riot  act  to  anybody  who  tries  to  introduce 
politics  into  this  thing.  I  am  very  proud  to 
forget  party  lines,  because  there  is  one  thing 
that  is  so  much  greater  than  being  a  Repub 
lican  or  a  Democrat  that  those  names  ought 
never  to  be  mentioned  nor  connected  with  it. 
That  is  being  an  American,  and  the  way  to  be 
an  American  is  to  fulfil  the  pledges  we  have 
made. 


XIX 

"NATIONS  MUST  UNITE"—  LODGE 
(PORTLAND,  OREGON,  September  15, 


The  text  of  President  Wilson's  address  was  in 
part  as  follows: 

I  FOUND  quoted  in  one  of  your  papers  the 
other  day  a  passage  so  appropriate  that  I  do 
not  know  that  I  can  do  better  than  read  it  as 
the  particular  thing  that  it  is  found  necessary 
to  do:  "Nations  must  unite  as  men  unite,  in 
order  to  preserve  peace  and  order.  The  great 
nations  must  be  so  united  as  to  be  able  to  say 
to  any  single  country,  'You  must  not  go  to 
war,'  and  they  can  say  that  effectively  when 
the  country  desiring  war  knows  that  the 
force  which  the  united  nations  apply  behind 
peace  is  irresistible.  In  differences  between 
individuals  the  decision  of  a  court  is  final,  be 
cause  in  the  last  resort  the  entire  force  of  the 
community  is  behind  the  court  decision.  In 
differences  between  nations  which  go  beyond 
the  limited  range  of  arbitral  questions,  peace 
can  only  be  maintained  by  putting  behind  it 


"NATIONS  MUST  UNITE"— LODGE      147 

the  force  of  united  nations  determined  to 
uphold  it  and  prevent  war." 

That  is  a  quotation  from  an  address  said  to 
have  been  delivered  at  Union  College  in  June, 
1915,  a  year  after  the  war  began,  by  Henry 
Cabot  Lodge  of  Massachusetts.  I  entirely 
concur  in  Senator  Lodge's  conclusion  and  I 
hope  I  shall  have  his  co-operation  in  bringing 
about  the  desired  result. 

In  other  words,  the  only  way  we  can  prevent 
the  unspeakable  thing  from  happening  again 
is  that  the  nations  of  the  world  should  unite 
and  put  an  irresistible  force  behind  peace  and 
order. 

There  is  only  one  conceivable  way  to  do  that, 
and  that  is  by  means  of  a  League  of  Nations. 

I  don't  find  any  man  anywhere  rash  or  bold 
enough  to  say  that  he  does  not  desire  a  League 
of  Nations.  I  only  find  men  here  and  there 
saying  that  they  do  not  desire  this  League  of 
Nations.  And  I  want  to  ask  you  to  reflect 
upon  what  that  means.  When  this  covenant 
was  drawn  up  in  its  first  form  I  had  the  oc 
casion  to  return  for  a  few  weeks  to  this  country. 
I  brought  the  covenant  in  its  first  shape.  I 
submitted  it  in  an  intimate  conference  to  the 
Foreign  Relations  Committee  of  the  Senate  of 
the  United  States ;  or,  rather,  to  the  two  com 
mittees  of  the  two  Houses,  the  Foreign  Rela 
tions  Committee  of  the  Senate  and  the  Com 
mittee  on  Foreign  Affairs  of  the  House.  We 
11 


I48       THE  HOPE  OF  THE  WORLD 

discussed  all  parts  of  the  document.  Many 
suggestions  were  made.  I  took  all  of  these 
suggestions  back  to  Paris  and  the  Conference 
of  the  League  of  Nations  adopted  every  one  of 
the  suggestions  made. 

No  counsels  were  listened  to  more  carefully 
or  yielded  to  more  willingly  in  that  Conference 
than  the  counsels  of  the  United  States. 

Some  things  were  put  into  the  covenant 
which  personally  I  did  not  think  necessary, 
but  which  they  had  no  objection  to  putting  in 
explicitly. 

For  example,  take  the  Monroe  Doctrine. 
What  is  the  Monroe  Doctrine?  The  Monroe 
Doctrine  is  that  no  nation  shall  come  to  the 
Western  Hemisphere  and  try  to  establish  its 
power  or  interfere  with  the  self-government  of 
people  in  this  hemisphere.  Very  well.  That 
is  the  doctrine  of  the  covenant.  No  nation 
shall  anywhere  extend  its  power  or  seek  to 
interfere  with  the  political  independence  of  the 
peoples  of  the  world.  And  inasmuch  as  the 
Monroe  Doctrine  had  been  made  the  universal 
doctrine,  I  did  not  think  that  it  was  necessary 
to  mention  it  particularly,  but  when  I  sug 
gested  that  it  was  the  desire  of  the  United 
States  that  it  should  be  explicitly  recognized, 
it  was  explicitly  recognized.  The  Monroe 
Doctrine  is  left  intact  and  the  United  States  is 
left  free  to  enforce  it. 

I  want  to  emphasize  in  every  discussion  of 


"NATIONS  MUST  UNITE"— LODGE      149 

this  matter  the  absolutely  non-partizan  charac 
ter  of  the  covenant  and  the  treaty.  I  am  not 
in  favor  of  the  ratification  of  this  treaty,  in 
cluding  the  covenant  of  the  League  of  Nations, 
because  I  am  a  Democrat,  but  because  I  am  an 
American  and  a  lover  of  humanity. 


XX 

NEW  HOPE   FOR   CHINA 
(SAN  FRANCISCO,  September  17,  1919) 

President  Wilson  in  his  speech  at  the  Asso 
ciated  Women's  Club  luncheon  said: 

AGAIN  and  again  as  I  have  crossed  the  con 
tinent,  generous  women — women  I  did  not 
know — have  shaken  my  hand  and  said,  "God 
bless  you,  Mr.  President."  Some  of  them, 
like  many  of  you,  had  lost  sons  and  husbands 
and  brothers  in  the  war.  Why  should  they 
bless  me?  I  advised  Congress  to  declare  war. 
I  advised  Congress  to  send  their  sons  to  death. 
As  Commander-in-Chief  of  the  Army  I  sent 
them  over  the  seas  and  they  were  killed.  Why 
do  they  bless  me? 

Because  in  the  generosity  of  their  hearts 
they  want  the  sons  of  other  women  saved 
henceforth.  They  believe  that  the  methods 
proposed,  at  any  rate  merit  a  very  hopeful  ex 
pectation  that  similar  wars  will  be  prevented 
and  that  other  armies  will  not  have  to  go  from 
the  United  States  to  die  upon  distant  fields  of 
battle. 


NEW  HOPE  FOR  CHINA  151 

I  suppose  I  could  not  command  words  which 
would  exaggerate  the  present  expectations  of 
the  world  with  regard  to  the  United  States. 
We  cannot  desert  humanity.  We  are  the 
trustees  of  humanity,  and  we  must  see  that 
we  redeem  the  pledges  which  are  always  im 
plicit  in  so  great  a  trusteeship. 

I  cannot  conceive  a  motive  adequate  to  hold 
men  off  from  this  thing. 

Let  me  take  the  point  in  which  my  initial 
sympathy  is  most  with  them,  the  matter  of  the 
cession  to  Japan  of  the  interests  of  Germany 
in  Shantung  in  China.  I  said  to  my  Japanese 
colleagues  on  the  other  side  of  the  sea  that  I 
am  not  satisfied  with  this  settlement.  I  think 
it  ought  to  be  different.  But  when  gentlemen 
propose  to  cure  it  by  striking  that  clause  out 
of  the  treaty,  or  by  ourselves  withholding  our 
adherence  to  the  treaty,  they  propose  an 
irrational  thing. 

It  was  in  1898  that  China  ceded  these  rights 
and  concessions  to  Germany.  The  pretext 
was  that  some  German  missionaries  had  been 
killed.  My  heart  aches,  I  must  say,  when  I 
think  how  we  have  made  an  excuse  of  religion 
sometimes  to  work  a  deep  wrong.  The  central 
government  of  China  had  done  all  it  could  to 
protect  those  German  missionaries.  Their 
death  was  due  to  local  disturbances,  to  local 
passions,  to  local  antipathy  against  the  for 
eigner.  There  was  nothing  that  the  Chinese 


i52       THE  HOPE  OF  THE  WORLD 

government  as  a  whole  could  justly  be  held 
responsible  for. 

But  suppose  there  had  been?  Two  Chris 
tian  missionaries  are  killed,  and,  therefore,  one 
great  nation  robs  another  nation  and  does  a 
thing  which  is  fundamentally  unchristian  and 
heathen.  For  there  was  no  adequate  excuse 
for  what  Germany  exacted  of  China. 

I  read  again  only  the  other  day  the  phrases 
in  which  poor  China  was  made  to  make  the 
concession.  She  was  made  to  make  that  in 
words  dictated  by  Germany — in  view  of  her 
gratitude  to  Germany  for  certain  services 
rendered — the  deepest  hypocrisy  conceivable. 
She  was  obliged  to  do  so  by  force. 

Then  Russia  came  in  and  obliged  China  to 
cede  to  her  Port  Arthur  and  Talien-wan,  not 
for  quite  so  long  a  period,  but  on  substantially 
the  same  terms.  Then  England  must  needs 
have  Wei-hai-wei  as  an  equivalent  concession 
to  that  which  had  been  made  to  Germany. 
And  presently  certain  ports  and  territory  back 
of  them  ^were  ceded  upon  similar  principles  to 
France. 

Everybody  got  in  except  the  United  States 
and  said,  "If  Germany  is  going  to  get  some 
thing  we  will  get  something. ' '  Why  ?  No  one 
of  them  was  entitled  to  it ;  no  one  of  them  had 
any  business  in  there  on  such  terms.  And 
then,  when  the  Japanese-Russian  War  came, 
Japan  did  what  she  has  done  in  this  war — she 


NEW  HOPE  FOR  CHINA  153 

attacked  Port  Arthur  and  captured  Port 
Arthur,  and  Port  Arthur  was  ceded  to  her  as  a 
consequence  of  the  war. 

No  protest  was  made  by  the  government  of 
the  United  States  against  the  original  con 
cession  of  this  Shantung  territory  to  Germany. 
One  of  the  highest-minded  men  of  our  history 
was  President  at  this  time — I  mean  Mr. 
McKinley.  One  of  the  ablest  men  we  ever 
had  as  Secretary  of  State,  John  Hay,  occupied 
that  great  office.  And  in  the  message  of  Mr. 
McKinley  about  this  transaction  he  says  that 
inasmuch  as  the  powers  that  had  taken  those 
territories  had  agreed  to  keep  the  doors  open 
for  our  commerce,  there  was  no  reason  why 
we  should  object.  Just  so  we  could  trade 
with  these  stolen  territories,  we  were  willing 
to  let  them  be  stolen. 

Which  of  these  gentlemen  who  are  now  ob 
jecting  to  the  cession  of  the  German  rights  in 
Shantung  in  China  were  prominently  pro 
testing  against  the  original  cession  or  any  one 
of  those  original  cessions  ?  It  makes  my  heart 
burn  when  some  men  are  so  late  in  doing 
justice. 

Now,  in  the*  mean  time,  before  we  got  into 
this  war,  but  after  the  war  had  begun,  because 
they  deemed  the  assistance  of  Japan  in  the 
Pacific  absolutely  indispensable,  Great  Britain 
and  France  both  agreed  that  if  Japan  would 
enter  the  war  she  could  do  the  same  thing 


154       THE  HOPE  OF  THE  WORLD 

with  regard  to  Shantung  that  she  had  done 
with  regard  to  Port  Arthur— that  if  she  would 
take  what  Germany  had  in  Shantung  she  could 
keep  it.  It  was  Germany's  right  in  Shantung 
and  not  China's  that  we  conceded:by  the  treaty 
to  Japan,  but  with  a  condition  which  was  not 
insisted  upon  at  the  cession  of  Port  Arthur— 
upon  a  condition  that  no  other  nation  in  doing 
similar  things  in  China  has  ever  yielded  to. 
Japan  is  under  solemn  promise  to  forgo  all 
sovereign  rights  in  the  province  of  Shantung 
and  to  retain  only  what  private  corporations 
have  elsewhere  in  China. 

Coupled  with  this  arrangement  is  the  League 
of  Nations,  under  which  Japan  solemnly  un 
dertakes,  with  the  rest  of  us,  to  respect  and 
protect  the  territorial  integrity  of  China.  And 
back  of  her  promise  is  likewise  the  similar 
promise  of  every  other  nation,  that  nowhere 
will  there  come  a  disregard  for  the  territorial 
integrity  or  the  political  independence  of  that 
great,  helpless  people. 

It  is  the  first  time  in  the  history  of  the  world 
that  anything  has  been  done  for  China.  And, 
sitting  around  our  council  board  in  Paris,  I 
put  this  question :  May  I  expect  that  this  will 
be  the  beginning  of  the  retrocession  to  China 
of  the  exceptional  rights  which  other  govern 
ments  have  enjoyed  there?  And  the  respon 
sible  representatives  of  the  other  great  gov 
ernments  said,  "Yes,  you  may  expect  it." 


NEW  HOPE  FOR  CHINA  155 

Your  attention  is  constantly  drawn  to 
Article  X,  and  that  is  the  article,  the  heart  of 
the  covenant,  which  guarantees  the  political 
integrity  not  only  of  China  but  of  other  coun 
tries  more  helpless,  even,  than  China.  But 
besides  Article  X  there  is  Article  XI,  which 
makes  it  the  right  of  every  member  of  the 
League  to  draw  attention  to  anything  any 
where  that  is  likely  to  disturb  the  peace  of  the 
world  or  the  good  understanding  between 
nations  upon  which  the  peace  of  the  world 
depends. 

Whenever  formerly  anything  was  done  in 
detriment  of  the  interests  of  China  vwe  had  to 
approach  the  government  that  did  it  with 
apologies.  Now,  when  you  have  the  treaty 
and  the  League  of  Nations  the  representative 
of  the  United  States  has  the  right  to  stand  up 
and  say:  "This  is  against  the  covenant  of 
peace.  It  can't  be  done,"  and  if  occasion 
arises  we  can  add,  "It  shall  not  be  done." 

The  weak  and  oppressed  and  wronged 
peoples  of  the  world  have  never  before  had  a 
forum  made  for  them  to  which  they  could 
summon  their  enemies  in  the  presence  of  the 
judgment  of  mankind. 


XXI 

OUR  RIGHTS  SAFE  UNDER  THE   LEAGUE 
(SAN  FRANCISCO,  September  18,  1919) 

Replying  to  a  list  of  questions  presented  by  a 
San  Francisco  League  of  Nations  organization, 
President  Wilson  made  the  following  statements: 

I.  WILL  you  state  the  underlying  considera 
tion  which  dictated  an  awarding  of  six  votes 
to  the  British  Empire  in  the  assembly,  and  is 
it  true  that  Great  Britain  will  outvote  us  in 
the  League  of  Nations  and  thereby  control  the 
League's  action? 

Answer. — The  consideration  which  led  to 
assigning  six  votes  to  self-governing  portions 
of  the  British  Empire  was  that  they  have  in 
effect,  in  all  but  foreign  policies,  become 
autonomous  self-governing  states,  their  policy 
in  all  but  foreign  affairs  being  independent  of 
the  control  of  the  British  government  and  in 
many  respects  dissimilar  from  it.  But  it  is 
not  true  that  the  British  Empire  can  outvote 
us  in  the  League  of  Nations  and  therefore  con 
trol  the  action  of  the  League,  because  in  every 


OUR  RIGHTS  SAFE  UNDER  LEAGUE    157 

matter  except  the  admission  of  new  members  in 
the  League,  no  action  can  be  taken  without  the 
concurrence  of  a  unanimous  Vote  of  the  repre 
sentatives  of  the  states  which  are  members  of 
the  council,  so  that  in  all  matters  of  action  the 
affirmative  vote  of  the  United  States  is  neces 
sary  and  equivalent  to  the  united  vote  of  the 
representatives  of  the  several  parts  of  the 
British  Empire.  The  united  votes  of  the 
several  parts  of  the  British  Empire  cannot 
offset  or  overcome  the  vote  of  the  United 
States. 

2.  Is  it   true   that   under   the    League   of 
Nations  foreign  countries  can  order  the  sending 
of  American  troops  to  foreign  countries? 

Answer. — It  is  not.  The  right  of  Congress 
to  determine  such  matters  is  in  no  wise 
impaired. 

3.  What  effect  will  the  League  of  Nations 
have  in  either  forwarding  or  hindering  the 
final  restoration  of  Shantung  to  China  ?     What 
effect  will  the  League  of  Nations  have  in  pre 
venting  further  spoliation  of  China  and  the 
abrogation  of  all  such  special  privileges  now 
enjoyed  in  China  by  foreign  countries? 

"Answer. — The  League  of  Nations  will  have 
a  very  powerful  effect  in  forwarding  the  final 
restoration  of  Shantung  to  China  and  no  other 
instrumentality  or  action  can  be  substituted 
which  could  bring  that  result  about.  The 
authority  of  the  League  will  under  Article  X 


158       THE  HOPE  OF  THE  WORLD 

be  constantly  directed  toward  safeguarding 
the  territorial  integrity  and  political  inde 
pendence  of  China.  It  will,  therefore,  abso 
lutely  prevent  the  further  spoliation  of  China, 
promote  the  restoration  in  China  of  the 
several  privileges  now  long  enjoyed  by  foreign 
countries  and  assure  China  of  the  completion 
of  the  process  by  which  Shantung  will  presently 
be  returned  to  her  in  full  sovereignty.  In  the 
past  there  has  been  no  tribunal  which  could  be 
resorted  to  for  any  of  these  purposes. 

4.  Is  there  anything  in  the  League  of  Na 
tions  covenant  or  the  Peace  Treaty  which  di 
rectly  or  indirectly  in  any  manner  imposes  on 
the  United  States  any  obligations,  moral  or 
otherwise,  of  the  slightest  character  to  support 
England   in   any   way   in   case   of   revolt   in 
Ireland  ? 

Answer. — There  is  not.  The  only  guaran 
ty  contained  in  the  covenant  is  against  ex 
ternal  aggression,  and  those  who  framed  the 
covenant  were  scrupulously  careful  in  no  way 
to  interfere  with  what  they  regarded  as  the 
sacred  rights  of  self-determination. 

5.  What  effect,  if  any,  will  the  League  of 
Nations  covenant  have  in  either  hindering  or 
furthering  the  cause  of  Irish  freedom  ? 

Answer. — It  was  not  possible  for  the  Peace 
Conference  to  act  with  regard  to  the  self- 
determination  of  any  territories  except  those 
which  had  belonged  to  the  defeated  empires, 


OUR  RIGHTS  SAFE  UNDER  LEAGUE    159 

but  in  the  covenant  of  the  League  of  Nations 
it  has  set  up  for  the  first  time  in  Article  XI  a 
forum  where  all  claims  of  self-determination, 
which  are  likely  to  disturb  the  peace  of  the 
world  or  the  good  understanding  between 
nations  upon  which  the  peace  of  the  world 
depends,  can  be  brought. 


XXII 

SIX  VOTES  TO  ONE 
(Los  ANGELES,  CALIFORNIA,  September  25,  1919) 

The  full  text  of  the  President's  explanation  on 
this  question  of  voting  is  as  follows: 

ANOTHER  thing  that  is  giving  some  of  our 
fellow-countrymen  pangs  of  some  sort,  pangs 
of  jealousy,  perhaps,  is  that,  as  they  put  it, 
Great  Britain  has  six  votes  in  the  League  and 
we  have  only  one.  Well,  our  one  vote,  it 
happens,  counts  just  as  heavily  as  if  every  one 
of  our  states  was  represented  and  we  had 
forty-eight  votes,  because  it  happens,  though 
these  gentlemen  have  overlooked  it,  that  the 
Assembly  is  not  an  independent  voting  body. 
Great  Britain  has  only  one  representative  and 
one  vote  in  the  Council  of  the  League  of  Na 
tions,  which  originates  all  action,  and  its  six 
votes  are  in  the  Assembly,  which  is  a  debating 
and  not  an  executive  body,  and  in  every 
matter  on  which  the  Assembly  can  vote  along 
with  the  Council  it  is  necessary  that  all  the 
nations  represented  on  the  Council  should 


SIX  VOTES  TO  ONE  161 

concur  in  the  affirmative  vote  to  make  it 
valid;  so  that  in  every  vote,  no  matter  how 
many  vote  for  it  in  the  Assembly,  in  order  for 
it  to  become  valid  it  is  necessary  that  the 
United  States  should  vote  aye. 

Now,  inasmuch  as  the  Assembly  is  a  de 
bating  body,  that  is  the  place  where  this  ex 
posure  that  I  have  talked  about  to  the  open 
air  is  to  occur,  it  would  not  be  wise  for  any 
body  to  go  into  the  Assembly  for  purposes  that 
will  not  bear  exposure,  because  that  is  the 
great  cooling  process  of  the  world,  that  is  the 
great  place  where  gases  are  to  be  burned  off. 
I  ask  you,  in  debating  the  affairs  of  mankind, 
would  it  have  been  fair  to  give  Panama  a 
vote,  as  she  will  have,  Cuba  a  vote,  both  of 
them  very  much  under  the  influence  of  the 
United  States,  and  not  give  a  vote  to  the  Do 
minion  of  Canada,  to  that  great  energetic 
republic  in  South  Africa,  to  that  place  from 
which  so  many  liberal  ideas  and  liberal  actions 
have  come,  that  stout  little  Commonwealth  of 
Australia?  Why,  when  I  was  in  Paris,  the 
men  I  could  not  tell  apart,  except  by  their 
hats,  were  the  Americans  and  the  Australians. 
They  both  had  the  swing  of  fellows  who  say, 
"The  gang  is  all  here,  what  do  we  care?" 
Could  we  deny  a  vote  to  that  other  little  self- 
governing  nation,  for  it  practically  is  such  in 
everything  but  its  foreign  affairs,  New  Zea 
land,  or,  last  but  not  least,  to  those  toiling — • 


162       THE  HOPE  OF  THE  WORLD 

I  was  about  to  say  uncounted — millions  in 
India?  Would  you  vote  to  deprive  these 
great  communities  of  a  voice  in  the  debate? 
Why,  my  fellow-citizens,  it  is  a  proposition 
which  has  never  been  stated,  because  to  state  it 
answers  it. 

But  they  cannot  outvote  us.  If  we,  as  I 
said  a  minute  ago,  had  forty-eight  votes  in  the 
Assembly,  they  would  not  count  any  more  than 
our  one,  because  they  would  have  to  be  com 
bined,  and  it  is  easier  to  combine  one  than  to 
combine  forty-eight.  The  vote  of  the  United 
States  is  potential  to  prevent  anything  the 
United  States  does  not  care  to  approve.  All 
this  nonsense  about  six  votes  and  one  vote  can 
be  dismissed,  and  you  can  sleep  with  perfect 
quiet.  In  order  that  I  may  not  be  said  to  have 
misled  you,  I  must  say  that  there  is  one  matter 
upon  which  the  Assembly  can  vote  and  which 
it  can  decide  by  a  two-thirds  majority  without 
the  concurrence  of  all  the  states  represented 
in  the  Council,  and  that  is  the  admission  of 
new  members  to  the  League. 


XXIII 

VOTING  POWER  IN   THE  LEAGUE 
(PUEBLO,  COLORADO,  September  25,  IQIQ) 

In  the  President's  final  address  he  made  a 
particular  point  of  explaining  the  six  votes  of 
Great  Britain  and  her  colonies  in  the  League 
Assembly.  Mr.  Wilson  said  in  part: 

BUT  you  say,  "we  have  heard  that  we  might 
be  at  a  disadvantage  in  the  League  of  Nations." 
Well,  whoever  told  you  that  either  was  delib 
erately  falsifying  or  he  had  not  read  the  cove 
nant  of  the  League  of  Nations.  I  leave  him 
the  choice. 

I  want  to  give  you  a  very  simple  account  of 
the  organization  of  the  League  of  Nations  and 
let  you  judge  for  yourselves.  It  is  a  very 
simple  organization. 

The  power  of  the  League,  or  rather  the  activ 
ities  of  the  League,  lie  in  two  bodies.  The 
first  is  a  council,  which  consists  of  one  repre 
sentative  from  each  of  the  principal  allied 
and  associated  powers — that  is  to  say,  the 

United  States,  Great  Britain.  France,  Italy, 
12 


164       THE  HOPE  OF  THE  WORLD 

and  Japan,  along  with  four  other  representa 
tives  of  smaller  powers,  chosen  out  of  the 
general  body  of  the  membership  of  the 
League. 

The  Council  is  the  source  of  every  active 
policy  of  the  League,  and  no  active  policy  of 
the  League  can  be  adopted  without  a  unani 
mous  vote  of  the  Council.  That  is  explicitly 
stated  in  the  covenant  itself.  Does  it  not  evi 
dently  follow  that  the  League  of  Nations  can 
adopt  no  policy  whatever  without  the  consent 
of  the  United  States  ?  The  affirmative  vote  of 
the  representative  of  the  United  States  is 
necessary  in  every  case. 

Now,  you  have  heard  of  six  votes  belonging 
to  the  British  Empire.  Those  six  votes  are 
not  in  the  Council,  they  are  injhe  Assembly, 
and  the  interesting  thing  is  that  the  Assembly 
does  not  vote.  I  must  qualify  that  statement 
V  lit  tier,  but  'essentially  it  is.  absolutely  true. 
In  every  matter  in  which  the  Assembly  is 
given  a  voice,  and  there  are  only  four  or  five, 
its  vote  does  not  count  unless  concurred  in  by 
the  representatives  of  all  the  nations  repre 
sented  on  the  Council,  so  that  there  is  no 
validity  to  any  vote  of  the  Assembly  unless  in 
that  vote  also  the  representative  of  the  United 
States  concurs.  That  one  vote  of  the  United 
States  is  as  big  as  the  six  votes  of  the  British 
Empire.  I  am  not  jealous  for  advantage,  my 
fellow-citizens,  but  I  think  that  is  a  perfectly 


VOTING  POWER  IN  THE  LEAGUE     165 

safe  situation.  There  is  not  any  validity  in 
a  vote  either  by  the  Council  or  the  Assembly 
in  which  we  do  not  concur.  So  much  for  the 
statements  about  the  six  votes  of  the  British 
Empire. 

And  look  at  it  in  another  aspect.  The  As 
sembly  is  the  talking  body.  The  Assembly 
was  created  in  order  that  anybody  that  pur 
posed  anything  wrong  should  be  subjected  to 
the  awkward  circumstances  that  everybody 
could  talk  about  it.  This  is  the  great  Assem 
bly  in  which  all  the  things  that  are  likely  to 
disturb  the  peace  of  the  world  or  the  good 
understanding  between  nations  are  to  be  ex 
posed  to  the  general  view,  and  I  want  to  ask 
you  if  you  think  it  was  unjust,  unjust  to  the 
United  States,  that  speaking  parts  should  be 
assigned  to  the  several  portions  of  the  British 
Empire? 

Do  you  think  it  unjust  that  there  should  be 
some  spokesman  in  debate  for  that  fine,  little, 
stout  republic  down  in  the  Pacific,  New  Zea 
land?  Do  you  think  it  was  unjust  that 
Australia  should  be  allowed  to  stand  up  and 
take  part  in  the  debate,  Australia  from  which 
we  have  learned  some  of  the  most  useful  pro 
gressive  policies  of  modern  times,  a  little  na 
tion  of  only  five  million  in  a  great  continent, 
but  counting  for  several  times  five  in  its  activi 
ties  and  in  its  interest  in  liberal  reform  ? 

Do  you  think  it  unjust  that  that  little  re- 


166       THE  HOPE  OF  THE  WORLD 

public  down  in  South  Africa  whose  gallant 
resistance  to  being  subjected  to  any  outside 
authority  at  all  we  admired  for  so  many 
months  and  whose  fortunes  we  followed  with 
such  interest  should  have  a  speaking  part? 
Great  Britain  obliged  South  Africa  to  submit 
to  her  sovereignty,  but  she  immediately  after 
that  felt  that  it  was  convenient  and  right  to 
hand  the  whole  self-government  of  that  colony 
over  to  the  very  men  whom  she  had  beaten, 
and  among  the  representatives  of  South  Africa 
in  Paris  were  two  of  the  most  distinguished 
generals  of  the  Boer  army,  two  of  the  realest 
men  I  ever  met,  two  men  that  could  talk  sober 
counsel  and  wise  advice  along  with  the  best 
statesmen  in  Europe.  To  exclude  General 
Botha  and  General  Smuts  from  the  right  to 
stand  up  in  the  parliament  of  the  world  and 
say  something  concerning  the  affairs  of  man 
kind  would  be  absurd. 

And  what  about  Canada?  Isn't  Canada  a 
good  neighbor?  I  ask  you,  isn't  Canada  more 
likely  to  agree  with  the  United  States  than 
with  Great  Britain?  Canada  has  a  speaking 
part. 

And  then  for  the  first  time  in  the  history  of 
the  world  that  great,  voiceless  multitude,  that 
throng,  hundreds  of  millions  strong,  in  India, 
has  a  voice.  And  I  want  to  testify  that  some 
of  the  wisest  and  most  dignified  figures  in  the 
Peace  Conference  at  Paris  came  from  India, 


VOTING  POWER  IN  THE  LEAGUE     167 

men  who  seemed  to  carry  in  their  minds  an 
older  wisdom  than  the  rest  of  us  had,  whose 
traditions  ran  back  into  so  many  of  the  un 
happy  fortunes  of  mankind  that  they  seemed 
very  useful  counselors  as  to  how  some  ray  of 
hope  and  some  prospect  of  happiness  could  be 
opened  to  its  people. 

I  for  my  part  have  no  jealousy  whatever  of 
those  five  speaking  parts  in  the  Assembly,  and 
these  speaking  parts  cannot  translate  them 
selves  into  five  votes  that  can  in  any  matter 
override  the  voice  and  purpose  of  the  United 
States 

Let  us  sweep  aside  all  this  language  of 
jealousy.  Let  us  be  big  enough  to  know  the 
facts  and  to  welcome  the  facts.  Because  the 
facts  are  based  upon  the  principle  that  America 
has  always  fought  for,  namely,  the  equality 
of  self-governing  peoples,  whether  they  were 
big  or  little,  not  counting  men,  "But"  counting 
rights,  not  counting  representation,  but  count 
ing  the  purpose  of  that  representation. 

When  you  hear  an  opinion  quoted,  you  do  / 
not  count  the  number  of  persons  who  hold  it.  / 
You    ask,    "Who    said    that?"     You    weigh/ 
opinions,  you  do  not  count  them,  and  the! 
beauty  of  all  democracies  is  that  every  voice 
can  be  heard,  every  voice  can  have  its  effect, 
every   voice   can   contribute   to   the   general 
judgment  that  is  finally  arrived  at.     That  is 
the  object  of  democracy. 


168       THE  HOPE  OF  THE  WORLD 

Let  us  accept  what  America  has  always 
fought  for,  and  accept  it  with  pride  that  Amer 
ica  showed  the  way  and  made  the  proposal.  I 
do  not  mean  that  America  made  the  proposal 
in  this  particular  instance,  I  mean  that  the 
principle  was  an  American  principle,  proposed 
by  America. 

The  chief  pleasure  of  my  trip  has  been  that 
it  has  nothing  to  do  with  my  personal  fortunes. 
That  it  has  nothing  to  do  with  my  personal 
reputation,  that  it  has  nothing  to  do  with  any 
thing  except  great  principles  uttered  by  Amer 
icans  of  all  sorts  and  of  all  parties  which  we  are 
now  trying  to  realize  at  this  crisis  of  the  affairs 
of  the  world. 

But  there  have  been  unpleasant  impressions 
as  well  as  pleasant  impressions.  My  fellow- 
citizens,  as  I  have  crossed  the  continent  I  have 
perceived  more  and  more  that  men  have  been 
busy  creating  an  absolutely  false  impression  of 
what  the  treaty  of  peace  and  the  covenant  of 
the  League  of  Nations  contain  and  mean. 

I  find,  moreover,  that  there  is  an  organized 
propaganda  against  the  League  of  Nations 
and  against  the  treaty,  proceeding  from  the 
same  sources  that  the  organized  propaganda 
proceeded  from  which  threatened  this  country 
here  and  there  with  disloyalty,  and  I  want  to 
say,  I  cannot  say  too  often,  any  man  who 
carries  a  hyphen  about  with  him  carries  a 
dagger  that  he  is  ready  to  plunge  into  the  vitals 


VOTING  POWER  IN  THE^  LEAGUE     169 

of  this  Republic  whenever  he  gets  ready.  If 
I  can  catch  any  man  with  a  hyphen  in  this 
great  country  I  will  know  that  I  have  got  an 
enemy  of  the  Republic.  For,  my  fellow-citi 
zens,  it  is  only  certain  bodies  of  foreign  sym 
pathizers,  certain  bodies  in  sympathy  with 
foreign  nations  that  are  organized  against  this 
great  document  which  the  American  repre 
sentatives  have  brought  back  from  Paris. 


XXIV 

MUST  COMPOSE   DIFFERENCES 
(WASHINGTON,  October  22,  1919} 

President  Wilsoris  letter  to  the  National  In 
dustrial  Conference,  as  made  public  by  Secretary 
Lane,  follows: 

GENTLEMEN:  I  am  advised  by  your  chair 
man  that  you  have  come  to  a  situation  which 
appears  to  threaten  the  life  of  your  conference, 
and  because  of  that  I  am  presuming  to  address 
a  word  of  very  solemn  appeal  to  you  as  Amer 
icans.  It  is  not  for  me  to  assess  the  blame  for 
the  present  condition.  I  do  not  speak  in  a 
spirit  of  criticism  of  any  individual  or  of  any 
group.  But  having  called  this  conference,  I 
feel  that  my  temporary  indisposition  should 
not  bar  the  way  to  a  frank  expression  of  the 
seriousness  of  the  position  in  which  this  coun 
try  will  be  placed  should  you  adjourn  without 
having  convinced  the  American  people  that 
you  had  exhausted  your  resourcefulness  and 
your  patience  in  an  effort  to  come  to  some 
common  agreement. 


MUST  COMPOSE  DIFFERENCES     171 

At  a  time  when  the  nations  of  the  world  are 
endeavoring  to  find  a  way  of  avoiding  inter 
national  war,  are  we  to  confess  that  there  is  no 
method  to  be  found  for  carrying  on  industry 
except  in  the  spirit  and  with  the  very  method 
of  war  ?  Must  suspicion  and  hatred  and  force 
rule  us  in  civil  life  ?  Are  our  industrial  leaders 
and  our  industrial  workers  to  live  together 
without  faith  in  each  other,  constantly  strug 
gling  for  advantage  over  each  other,  doing 
naught  but  what  is  compelled  ? 

My  friends,  this  would  be  an  intolerable  out 
look,  a  prospect  unworthy  of  the  large  things 
done  by  this  people  in  the  mastering  of  this 
continent;  indeed,  it  would  be  an  invitation 
to  national  disaster.  From  such  a  possibility 
my  mind  turns  away,  for  my  confidence  is 
abiding  that  in  this  land  we  have  learned  how 
to  accept  the  general  judgment  upon  matters 
that  affect  the  public  weal.  And  this  is  the 
very  heart  and  soul  of  democracy. 

It  is  my  understanding  that  you  have  di 
vided  upon  one  portion  only  of  a  possible  large 
program  which  has  not  fully  been  developed. 
Before  a  severance  is  effected,  based  upon 
present  differences,  I  believe  you  should  stand 
together  for  the  development  of  that  full  pro 
gram  touching  the  many  questions  within  the 
broad  scope  of  your  investigations.-*  It  was  in 
my  mind  when  this  conference  was  called  that 
you  would  concern  yourselves  with  the  dis- 


1 72       THE  HOPE  OF  THE  WORLD 

covery  of  those  methods  by  which  a  measur 
able  co-operation  within  industry  may  have 
been  secured,  and  if  new  machinery  needs  to 
be  designed  by  which  a  minimum  of  conflict 
between  employers  and  employees  may  reason 
ably  be  hoped  for,  that  we  should  make  an 
effort  to  secure  its  adoption. 

It  cannot  be  expected  that  at  every  step  all 
parties  will  agree  upon  each  proposition  or 
method  suggested.  It  is  to  be  expected,  how 
ever,  that,  as  a  whole,  a  plan  or  program  can 
be  agreed  upon  which  will  advance  further  the 
productive  capacity  of  America  through  the 
establishment  of  a  surer  and  heartier  co-opera 
tion  between  all  the  elements  engaged  in  indus 
try.  The  public  expects  not  less  than  that 
you  shall  have  that  one  end  in  view  and  stay 
together  until  the  way  is  found  leading  to  that 
end  or  until  it  is  revealed  that  the  men  who 
work  and  the  men  who  manage  American  in 
dustry  are  so  set  upon  divergent  paths  that 
all  effort  at  co-operation  is  doomed  to  failure. 

I  renew  my  appeal  with  full  comprehension 
of  the  almost  incomparable  importance  of  your 
tasks  to  this  and  to  other  peoples,  and  with 
full  faith  in  the  high  patriotism  and  good  faith 
of  each  other  that  you  push  your  task  to  a 
happy  conclusion, 


XXV 

A  STATEMENT  TO  THE  MINERS 
(WASHINGTON,  October  26, 


ON  September  23,  1919,  the  convention  of 
the  United  Mine  Workers  of  America  at  Cleve 
land,  Ohio,  adopted  a  proposal  declaring  that 
all  contracts  in  the  bituminous  field  shall  be 
declared  as  having  automatically  expired  No 
vember  i,  1919,  and  making  various  demands, 
including  a  6o-per-cent.  increase  in  wages 
and  the  adoption  of  a  six-hour  work-day  and  a 
five-day  week,  and  providing  that,  in  the  event 
a  satisfactory  wage  agreement  should  not  be 
secured  for  the  central  competitive  field  before 
November  i,  1919,  the  national  officials  should 
be  authorized  and  instructed  to  call  a  general 
strike  of  all  bituminous  miners  and  mine  work 
ers  throughout  the  United  States,  effective 
November  i,  1919. 

Pursuant  to  these  instructions,  the  officers 
of  the  organization  have  issued  a  call  to  make 
the  strike  effective  November  ist. 

This  is  one  of  the  gravest  steps  ever  pro 
posed  in  this  country,  affecting  the  economic 


174       THE   HOPE  OF  THE  WORLD 

welfare  and  the  domestic  comfort  and  health 
of  the  people.  It  is  proposed  to  abrogate  an 
agreement  as  to  wages  which  was  made  with 
the  sanction  of  the  United  States  Fuel  Ad 
ministration  and  which  was  to  run  during  the 
continuance  of  the  war,  but  not  beyond  April  i, 
1920. 

This  strike  is  proposed  at  a  time  when  the 
government  is  making  the  most  earnest  effort 
to  reduce  the  cost  of  living  and  has  appealed 
with  success  to  other  classes  of  workers  to 
postpone  similar  disputes  until  a  reasonable 
opportunity  has  been  afforded  for  dealing  with 
the  cost  of  living. 

It  is  recognized  that  the  strike  would  prac 
tically  shut  off  the  country's  supply  of  its 
principal  fuel  at  a  time  when  interference  with 
that  supply  is  calculated  to  create  a  disastrous 
fuel  famine.  All  interests  would  be  affected 
alike  by  a  strike  of  this  character,  and  its  vic 
tims  would  be  not  the  rich  only,  but  the  poor 
and  the  needy  as  well — those  least  able  to  pro 
vide  in  advance  a  fuel  supply  for  domestic  use. 

It  would  involve  the  shutting  down  of  count 
less  industries  and  the  throwing  out  of  employ 
ment  of  a  large  number  of  the  workers  of  the 
country.  It  would  involve  stopping  the  opera 
tion  of  railroads,  electric  light,  and  gas  plants, 
street  railway  lines,  and  other  public  utilities, 
and  the  shipping  to  and  from  this  country, 
thus  preventing  our  giving  aid  to  the  allied 


A  STATEMENT  TO  THE  MINERS      175 

countries  with  supplies  which  they  so  seriously 
need. 

The  country  is  confronted  with  this  prospect 
at  a  time  when  the  war  itself  is  still  a  fact; 
when  the  world  is  still  in  suspense  as  to  nego 
tiations  for  peace;  when  our  troops  are  still 
being  transported  and  when  their  means  of 
transport  is  in  urgent  need  of  fuel. 

From  whatever  angle  the  subject  may  be 
viewed  it  is  apparent  that  such  a  strike  in  such 
circumstances  would  be  the  most  far-reaching 
plan  ever  presented  in  this  country  to  limit  the 
facilities  of  production  and  distribution  of  a 
necessity  of  life  and  thus  indirectly  to  restrict 
the  production  and  distribution  of  all  the  neces 
saries  of  life.  A  strike  under  these  circum 
stances  is  not  only  unjustifiable ;  it  is  unlawful. 

The  action  proposed  has  apparently  been 
taken  without  any  vote  upon  the  specific 
proposition  by  the  individual  members  of  the 
United  Mine  Workers  of  America  throughout 
the  United  States,  an  almost  unprecedented 
proceeding.  I  cannot  believe  that  any  right 
of  any  American  worker  needs  for  its  protec 
tion  the  taking  of  this  extraordinary  step,  and 
I  am  convinced  that  when  the  time  and  money 
are  considered,  it  constitutes  a  fundamental 
attack,  which  is  wrong,  both  morally  and 
legally,  upon  the  rights  of  society  and  upon 
the  welfare  of  our  country.  I  feel  convinced 
that  individual  members  of  the  United  Mine 


176       THE  HOPE  OF  THE  WORLD 

Workers  would  not  vote  upon  full  considera 
tion  in  favor  of  such  a  strike  under  these 
conditions. 

When  a  movement  reaches  a  point  where  it 
appears  to  involve  practically  the  entire  pro 
ductive  capacity  of  the  country  with  respect 
to  one  of  the  most  vital  necessities  of  daily 
domestic  and  industrial  life,  and  when  the 
movement  is  asserted  in  the  circumstance  I 
have  stated,  and  at  a  time  and  in  a  manner 
calculated  to  involve  the  maximum  of  dangers 
to  the  public  welfare  in  this  critical  hour  of  our 
country's  life,  the  public  interest  becomes  the 
paramount  consideration. 

In  these  circumstances  I  solemnly  request 
both  the  national  and  the  local  officers  and 
also  the  individual  members  of  the  United 
Mine  Workers  of  America  to  recall  all  orders 
looking  to  a  strike  on  November  ist,  and  to 
take  whatever  step  may  be  necessary  to 
prevent  any  stoppage  of  work. 

It  is  time  for  plain  speaking.  These  matters 
with  which  we  now  deal  touch  not  only  the 
welfare  of  a  class,  but  vitally  concern  the  well- 
being,  the  comfort,  and  the  very  life  of  all  the 
people.  I  feel  it  is  my  duty  in  the  public  in 
terest  to  declare  that  any  attempt  to  carry 
out  the  purpose  of  this  strike  and  thus  to 
paralyze  the  industry  of  the  country  with  the 
consequent  suffering  and  distress  of  all  our 
people  must  be  considered  a  grave  moral  and 


A  STATEMENT  TO  THE  MINERS     177 

legal  wrong  against  the  government  and  the 
people  of  the  United  States.  I  can  do  nothing 
else  than  to  say  that  the  law  will  be  enforced, 
and  the  means  will  be  found  to  protect  the  in 
terests  of  the  nation  in  any  emergency  that 
may  arise  out  of  this  unhappy  business. 

1  express  no  opinion  on  the  merits  of  the  con 
troversy.  I  have  already  suggested  a  plan  by 
which  a  settlement  may  be  reached,  and  I  hold 
myself  in  readiness  at  the  request  of  either  or 
both  sides  to  appoint  at  once  a  tribunal  to 
investigate  all  the  facts  with  a  view  to  aiding 
in  the  earliest  possible  orderly  settlement  of  the 
questions  at  issue  between  the  coal  operators 
and  the  coal  miners,  to  the  end  that  the  just 
rights,  not  only  of  those  interests,  but  also  of 
the  general  public  may  be  fully  protected. 


XXVI 

THE  RED  CROSS  DRIVE 
(WASHINGTON,  November,  IQIQ) 

President  Wilson  has  addressed  the  following 
letter  to  the  people  of  the  country  appealing  for 
support  of  the  third  Red  Cross  Roll  Call,  which  is 
to  be  held  November  2d  to  nth: 

As  President  of  the  United  States  and  as 
president  of  the  American  Red  Cross,  I  recom 
mend  and  urge  a  generous  response  to  the 
third  Red  Cross  Roll  Call,  which  opens  on 
November  2d  with  the  observance  of  Red 
Cross  Sunday  and  appropriately  closes  on  the 
nth,  the  first  anniversary  of  the  armistice. 

Twenty  million  adults  joined  the  Red  Cross 
during  the  war,  prompted  by  a  patriotic  desire 
to  render  service  to  their  country  and  to  the 
cause  for  which  the  United  States  was  engaged 
in  war.  Our  patriotism  should  stand  the  test 
of  peace  as  well  as  the  test  of  war,  and  it  is 
an  intelligently  patriotic  program  which  the 
Red  Cross  proposes,  a  continuance  of  service 
to  our  soldiers  and  sailors  who  look  to  it  for 


THE  RED  CROSS    DRIVE  179 

many  things,  and  a  transference  to  the  prob 
lems  of  peace  at  home  of  the  experience  and 
methods  which  it  acquired  during  the  war. 

It  is  on  membership  more  than  money  con 
tributions  that  the  stress  of  the  present  cam 
paign  is  laid,  for  the  Red  Cross  seeks  to  asso 
ciate  the  people  in  welfare  work  throughout 
the  land,  especially  in  those  communities  where 
neither  official  nor  unofficial  provision  has  been 
made  for  adequate  public  health  and  social 
service. 

It  is  in  the  spirit  of  democracy  that  the 
people  should  undertake  their  own  welfare 
activities,  and  the  National  Red  Cross  wisely 
intends  to  exert  upon  community  action  a 
stimulating  and  co-ordinating  influence  and  to 
place  the  energies  of  the  organization  behind 
all  sound  public  health  and  welfare  agencies. 

The  American  Red  Cross  does  not  purpose 
indefinite  prolongation  of  its  relief  work 
abroad,  a  policy  which  would  lay  an  unjust 
burden  upon  our  own  people  and  tend  to  under 
mine  the  self-reliance  of  the  peoples  relieved, 
but  there  is  a  necessary  work  of  completion  to 
be  performed  before  the  American  Red  Cross 
can  honorably  withdraw  from  Europe.  The 
Congress  of  the  United  States  has  imposed 
upon  the  Red  Cross  a  continuing  responsi 
bility  abroad  by  authorizing  the  Secretary  of 
War  to  transfer  to  the  American  Red  Cross 

such  surplus  army  medical  supplies  and  sup- 
is 


i8o       THE  HOPE  OF  THE  WORLD 

piemen tary  and  dietary  foodstuffs  now  in 
Europe  as  shall  not  be  required  by  the  army, 
to  be  used  by  the  Red  Cross  to  relieve  the  dis 
tress  which  continues  in  certain  countries  of 
Europe  as  a  result  of  the  war. 

To  finance  these  operations,  to  conclude 
work  which  was  begun  during  the  war,  and  to 
carry  out  some  comparatively  inexpensive 
constructive  plans  for  assisting  persons  in 
eastern  Europe  to  develop  their  own  welfare 
organizations,  the  American  Red  Cross  re 
quires,  in  addition  to  membership  fees,  a  sum 
of  money  small  in  comparison  with  gifts  poured 
into  its  treasury  by  our  generous  people  during 
the  war. 

Both  the  greater  enduring  domestic  pro 
gram  and  the  lesser  temporary  foreign  program 
of  the  Red  Cross  deserve  enthusiastic  support, 
and  I  venture  to  hope  that  its  peace-time  mem 
bership  will  exceed  rather  than  fall  below  its 
impressive  war  membership. 


XXVII 

A  MESSAGE  ON  ARMISTICE   DAY 
(WASHINGTON,  November  n,  1919) 

To  MY  FELLOW-COUNTRYMEN:  A  year  ago 
to-day  our  enemies  laid  down  their  arms  in  ac 
cordance  with  an  armistice  f  which  rendered 
them  impotent  to  renew  hostilities,  and  gave 
to  the  world  an  assured  opportunity,  to  recon 
struct  its  shattered  order^  and  to  work  out  in 
peace  ^a  new  and  juster  set  of  international  re 
lations.  „  The  soldiers  and  people  of  the  Euro 
pean  allies  had  fought  and  endured  for  more 
than  four  years  to  uphold  the  barrier  of  civiliza 
tion  against  the  aggressions  of  armed  force. 
We  ourselves  had  been  in  the  conflict  some 
thing  more  than  a  year  and  a  half.  With 
splendid  forgetfulness  of  mere  personal  con 
cerns,  we  remodeled  our  industries,  concen 
trated  our  financial  resources,  increased  our 
agricultural  output  and  assembled  a  great 
army,  so  that  at  the  last  our  power  was  a  de 
cisive  factor  in  the  victory.  We  were  able  to 
bring  the  vast  resources,  material  and  moral, 
of  a  great  and  free  people  to  the  assistance  of 


182       THE  HOPE  OF  THE  WORLD 

our  associates  in  Europe  who  had  suffered  and 
sacrificed  without  limit  in  the  cause  for  which 
we  fought. 

Out  of  this  victory  there  arose  new  pos 
sibilities  of  political  freedom  and  economic 
concert.  The  war  showed  us  the  strength  of 
great  nations  acting  together  for  high  purposes, 
and  the  victory  of  arms  foretells  the  enduring 
conquests  which  can  be  made  in  peace  when 
nations  act  justly  and  in  furtherance  of  the 
common  interests  of  men.  To  us  in  America 
the  reflections  of  Armistice  Day  will  be  filled 
with  solemn  pride  in  the  heroism  of  those  who 
died  in  the  country's  service,  and  with  grati 
tude  for  the  victory  both  because  of  the  thing 
from  which  it  has  freed  us  and  because  of  the 
opportunity  it  has  given  America  to  show  her 
sympathy  with  peace  and  justice  in  the 
councils  of  nations. 


XXVIII 

MESSAGE  TO  THE   CONGRESS 
(WASHINGTON,  December  2,  1919} 

To  THE  SENATE  AND  HOUSE  OF  REPRE 
SENTATIVES:  I  sincerely  regret  that  I  cannot 
be  present  at  the  opening  of  this  session  of  the 
Congress.  I  am  thus  prevented  from  present 
ing  in  as  direct  a  way  as  I  could  wish  the  many 
questions  that  are  pressing  for  solution  at  this 
time.  Happily,  I  have  the  advantage  of  the 
advice  of  the  heads  of  the  several  executive 
departments  who  have  kept  in  close  touch  with 
affairs  in  their  detail  and  whose  thoughtful 
recommendations  I  earnestly  second. 

In  the  matter  of  the  railroads  and  the  read 
justment  of  their  affairs,  growing  out  of  Fed 
eral  control,  I  shall  take  the  liberty  at  a  later 
clay  of  addressing  you. 

I  hope  that  Congress  will  bring  to  a  con 
clusion  at  this  session  legislation  looking  to 
the  establishment  of  a  budget  system.  That 
there  should  be  one  single  authority  respon 
sible  for  the  making  of  all  appropriations  and 
that  appropriations  should  be  made  not  inde 
pendently  of  each  other,  but  with  reference  to 


1 84       THE  HOPE  OF  THE  WORLD 

one  single  comprehensive  plan  of  expenditure 
properly  related  to  the  nation's  income,  there 
can  be  no  doubt. 

I  believe  the  burden  of  preparing  the  budget 
must,  in  the  nature  of  the  case,  if  the  work  is 
to  be  properly  done  and  responsibility  con 
centrated  instead  of  divided,  rest  upon  the 
Executive.  The  budget  so  prepared  should  be 
submitted  to  and  approved  or  amended  by  a 
single  committee  of  each  House  of  Congress, 
and  no  single  appropriation  should  be  made  by 
the  Congress  except  such  as  may  have  been 
included  in  the  budget  prepared  by  the  Execu 
tive  or  added  by  the  particular  committee  of 
Congress  charged  with  the  budget  legislation. 

Another  and  not  less  important  aspect  of  the 
problem  is  the  ascertainment  of  the  economy 
and  efficiency  with  which  the  moneys  appro 
priated  are  expended.  Under  existing  law  the 
only  audit  is  for  the  purpose  of  ascertaining 
whether  expenditures  have  been  lawfully 
made  within  the  appropriations.  No  one  is 
authorized  or  equipped  to  ascertain  whether 
the  money  has  been  spent  wisely,  economically, 
and  effectively. 

The  auditors  should  be  highly  trained  offi 
cials  with  permanent  tenure  in  the  Treasury 
Department,  free  of  obligations  to  or  motives 
of  consideration  for  this  or  any  subsequent 
Administration,  and  authorized  and  empow 
ered  to  examine  into  and  make  report  upon  the 


MESSAGE  TO  THE  CONGRESS      185 

methods  employed  and  the  results  obtained  by 
the  executive  departments  of  the  government. 
Their  reports  should  be  made  to  the  Congress 
and  to  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury. 

I  trust  that  the  Congress  will  give  its  imme 
diate  consideration  to  the  problem  of  future 
taxation.  Simplification  of  the  income  and 
profits  taxes  has  become  an  immediate  neces 
sity.  These  taxes  performed  indispensable 
service  during  the  war.  They  must,  however, 
be  simplified,  not  only  to  save  the  taxpayer 
inconvenience  and  expense,  but  in  order  that 
his  liability  may  be  made  certain  and  definite. 

With  reference  to  the  details  of  the  revenue 
law,  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  and  the 
Commissioner  of  Internal  Revenue  will  lay 
before  you  for  your  consideration  certain 
amendments  necessary  or  desirable  in  connec 
tion  with  the  administration  of  the  law- 
recommendations  which  have  my  approval 
and  support. 

It  is  of  the  utmost  importance  that  in  dealing 
with  this  matter  the  present  law  should  not  be 
disturbed  so  far  as  regards  taxes  for  the  calen 
dar  year  1920,  payable  in  the  calendar  year 
1921.  The  Congress  might  well  consider 
whether  the  higher  rates  of  income  and  profits 
taxes  can  in  peace  times  be  effectively  pro 
ductive  of  revenue,  and  whether  they  may  not, 
on  the  contrary,  be  destructive  of  business 
activity  and  productive  of  waste  and  ineffi- 


1 86       THE  HOPE  OF  THE  WORLD 

ciency.  There  is  a  point  at  which  in  peace 
times  high  rates  of  income  and  profits  taxes 
discourage  energy,  remove  the  incentive  to 
new  enterprise,  encourage  extravagant  ex 
penditures,  and  produce  industrial  stagnation 
with  consequent  unemployment  and  other 
attendant  evils. 

The  problem  is  not  an  easy  one.  A  funda 
mental  change  has  taken  place  with  reference 
to  the  position  of  America  in  the  world's 
affairs.  The  prejudice  and  passions  engen 
dered  by  decades  of  controversy  between  two 
schools  of  political  and  economic  thought — the 
one  believers  in  protection  of  American  indus 
tries,  the  other  believers  in  tariff  for  revenue 
only — 'must  be  subordinated  to  the  single 
consideration  of  the  public  interest  in  the  light 
of  utterly  changed  conditions. 

Before  the  war  America  was  heavily  the 
debtor  of  the  rest  of  the  world,  and  the  interest 
payments  she  had  to  make  to  foreign  countries 
on  American  securities  held  abroad,  the  ex 
penditures  of  American  travelers  abroad,  and 
the  ocean  freight  charges  she  had  to  pay  to 
others,  about  balanced  the  value  of  her  pre 
war  favorable  balance  of  trade.  During  the 
war  America's  exports  have  been  greatly 
stimulated,  and  increased  prices  have  increased 
their  value.  On  the  other  hand,  she  has  pur 
chased  a  large  proportion  of  the  American  se 
curities  previously  held  abroad,  has  loaned 


MESSAGE  TO  THE  CONGRESS      187 

some  nine  billion  dollars  to  foreign  govern 
ments  and  has  built  her  own  ships. 

Our  favorable  balance  of  trade  has  thus 
been  greatly  increased,  and  Europe  has  been 
deprived  of  the  means  of  meeting  it  heretofore 
existing.  Europe  can  have  only  three  ways  of 
meeting  the  favorable  balance  of  trade  in 
peace  times — by  imports  into  this  country  of 
gold  or  of  goods,  or  by  establishing  new  credits. 
Europe  is  in  no  position  at  the  present  time  to 
ship  gold  to  us,  nor  could  we  contemplate 
large  further  imports  of  gold  into  this  country 
without  concern.  The  time  has  nearly  passed 
for  international  governmental  loans,  and  it 
will  take  time  to  develop  in  this  country  a 
market  for  foreign  securities. 

Anything,  therefore,  which  would  tend  to 
prevent  foreign  countries  from  settling  for  our 
exports  by  shipments  of  goods  into  this  coun 
try  could  only  have  the  effect  of  preventing 
them  from  paying  for  our  exports  and  therefore 
of  preventing  the  exports  from  being  made. 
The  productivity  of  the  country,  greatly  stimu 
lated  by  the  war,  must  find  an  outlet  by  exports 
to  foreign  countries,  and  any  measures  taken  to 
prevent  imports  will  inevitably  curtail  exports, 
force  curtailment  of  production,  load  the  bank 
ing  machinery  of  the  country  with  credits  to 
carry  unsold  products,  and  produce  industrial 
stagnation  and  unemployment. 

If  we  want  to  sell,  we  must  be  prepared  to 


i88       THE  HOPE  OF  THE  WORLD 

buy.  Whatever,  therefore,  may  have  been  our 
views  during  the  period  of  growth  of  American 
business  concerning  tariff  legislation,  we  must 
now  adjust  our  own  economic  life  to  a  changed 
condition  growing  out  of  the  fact  that  Amer 
ican  business  is  full  grown  and  that  America  is 
the  greatest  capitalist  in  the  world. 

No  policy  of  isolation  will  satisfy  the  growing 
needs  and  opportunities  of  America.  The 
provincial  standards  and  policies  of  the  past, 
which  have  held  American  business  as  if  in  a 
strait  jacket,  must  yield  and  give  way  to  the 
needs  and  exigencies  of  the  new  day  in  which 
we  live,  a  day  full  of  hope  and  promise  for 
American  business,  if  we  will  but  take  advan 
tage  of  the  opportunities  that  are  ours  for  the 
asking. 

The  recent  war  has  ended  our  isolation  and 
thrown  upon  us  a  great  duty  and  respon 
sibility.  The  United  States  must  share  the 
expanding  world  markets.  The  United  States 
desires  for  itself  only  equal  opportunity  with 
the  other  nations  of  the  world,  and  that 
through  the  process  of  friendly  co-operation 
and  fair  competition  the  legitimate  interests 
of  the  nations  concerned  may  be  successfully 
and  equitably  adjusted. 

There  are  other  matters  of  importance  upon 
which  I  urged  action  at  the  last  session  of  Con 
gress  which  are  still  pressing  for  solution.  I 
am  sure  it  is  not  necessary  for  me  again  to 


MESSAGE  TO  THE  CONGRESS      189 

remind  you  that  there  is  one  immediate  and 
very  practicable  question  resulting  from  the 
war  which  we  should  meet  in  the  most  liberal 
spirit.  It  is  a  matter  of  recognition  and  relief 
to  our  soldiers.  I  can  do  no  better  than  to 
quote  from  my  last  message  urging  this  very- 
action  : 

''We  must  see  to  it  that  our  returning  sol 
diers  are  assisted  in  every  practicable  way  to 
find  the  places  for  which  they  are  fitted  in  the 
daily  work  of  the  country.  This  can  be  done 
by  developing  and  maintaining  upon  an  ade 
quate  scale  the  admirable  organization  created 
by  the  Department  of  Labor  for  placing  men 
seeking  work,  and  it  can  also  be  done,  in  at 
least  one  very  great  field,  by  creating  new  op 
portunities  for  individual  enterprise. 

"The  Secretary  of  the  Interior  has  pointed 
out  the  way  by  which  returning  soldiers  may 
be  helped  to  find  and  take  up  land  in  the 
hitherto  undeveloped  regions  of  the  country 
which  the  Federal  government  has  already 
prepared  or  can  readily  prepare  for  cultiva 
tion,  and  also  on  many  of  the  cut-over  or 
neglected  areas  which  lie  within  the  limits  of 
the  older  states;  and  I  once  more  take  the 
liberty  of  recommending  very  urgently  that  his 
plans  shall  receive  the  immediate  and  sub 
stantial  support  of  the  Congress." 

In  the  matter  of  tariff  legislation,  I  beg  to 
call  your  attention  to  the  statements  cpn- 


190       THE  HOPE  OF  THE  WORLD 

tained  in  my  last  message  urging  legislation 
with  reference  to  the  establishment  of  the 
chemical  and  dyestuff s  industry  in  America : 

"Among  the  industries  to  which  special  con 
sideration  should  be  given  is  that  of  the  manu 
facture  of  dyestuffs  and  related  chemicals. 
Our  complete  dependence  upon  German  sup 
plies  before  the  war  made  the  interruption  of 
trade  a  cause  of  exceptional  economic  dis 
turbance.  The  close  relation  between  the 
manufacture  of  dyestuffs,  on  the  one  hand,  and 
of  explosives  and  poisonous  gases  on  the  other, 
moreover,  has  given  the  industry  an  excep 
tional  significance  and  value. 

"Although  the  United  States  will  gladly  and 
unhesitatingly  join  in  the  program  of  inter 
national  disarmament  it  will,  nevertheless,  be 
a  policy  of  obvious  prudence  to  make  certain 
of  the  successful  maintenance  of  many  strong 
and  well-equipped  chemical  plants.  The  Ger 
man  chemical  industry,  with  which  we  will  be 
brought  into  competition,  was  and  may  well 
be  again  a  thoroughly  knit  monopoly  capable 
of  exercising  a  competition  of  a  peculiarly 
insidious  and  dangerous  kind." 

During  the  war  the  farmer  performed  a  vital 
and  willing  service  to  the  nation.  By  ma 
terially  increasing  the  production  of  his  land, 
he  supplied  America  and  the  Allies  with  the 
increased  amounts  of  food  necessary  to  keep 
their  immense  armies  in  the  field.  He  indis- 


MESSAGE  TO  THE  CONGRESS      191 

pensably  helped  to  win  the  war.  But  there  is 
now  scarcely  less  need  of  increasing  the  pro 
duction  in  food  and  the  necessaries  of  life.  I 
ask  the  Congress  to  consider  means  of  en 
couraging  effort  along  these  lines. 

The  importance  of  doing  everything  possible 
to  promote  production  along  economical  lines, 
to  improve  marketing,  and  to  make  rural  life 
more  attractive  and  healthful,  is  obvious.  I 
would  urge  approval  of  the  plans  already  pro 
posed  to  the  Congress  by  the  Secretary  of  Agri 
culture  to  secure  the  essential  facts  required 
for  the  proper  study  of  this  question,  through 
the  proposed  enlarged  program  for  farm  man 
agement  studies  and  crop  estimates. 

I  would  urge  also  the  continuance  of  Federal 
participation  in  the  building  of  good  roads 
under  the  terms  of  existing  law  and  under  the 
direction  of  present  agencies;  the  need  of 
further  action  on  the  part  of  the  states  and 
the  Federal  government  to  preserve  and  de 
velop  our  forest  resources,  especially  through 
the  practice  of  better  forestry  methods  on 
private  holdings  and  the  extension  of  the 
publicly  owned  forests;  better  support  for 
country  schools  and  the  more  definite  direc 
tion  of  their  courses  of  study  along  lines 
related  to  rural  problems;  and  fuller  pro 
vision  for  sanitation  in  rural  districts  and 
the  building  up  of  needed  hospital  and  medical 
facilities  in  these  localities. 


192       THE  HOPE  OF  THE  WORLD 

Perhaps  the  way  might  be  cleared  for  many 
of  these  desirable  reforms  by  a  fresh,  compre 
hensive  survey  made  of  rural  conditions  by  a 
conference  composed  of  representatives  of  the 
farmers  and  of  the  agricultural  agencies  re 
sponsible  for  leadership. 

I  would  call  your  attention  to  the  wide 
spread  condition  of  political  restlessness  in  our 
body  politic.  The  causes  of  this  unrest,  while 
various  and  complicated,  are  superficial  rather 
than  deep-seated.  Broadly,  they  arise  from 
or  are  connected  with  the  failure  on  the  part 
of  our  government  to  arrive  speedily  at  a  just 
and  permanent  peace  permitting  return  to 
normal  conditions,  from  the  transfusion  of 
radical  theories  from  seething  European  cen 
ters  pending  such  delay,  from  heartless  profit 
eering  resulting  in  the  increase  of  the  cost  of 
living,  and  lastly  from  the  machinations  of 
passionate  and  malevolent  agitators. 

With  the  return  to  normal  conditions  this 
unrest  will  rapidly  disappear.  In  the  mean 
time  it  'does  much  evil.  It  seems  to  me  that 
in  dealing  with  this  situation  Congress  should 
not  be  impatient  or  drastic,  but  should  seek 
rather  to  remove  the  cause.  It  should  en 
deavor  to  bring  our  country  back  speedily  to  a 
peace  basis,  with  ameliorated  living  conditions 
under  the  minimum  of  restrictions  upon  per 
sonal  liberty  that  is  consistent  with  our  recon 
struction  problems.  And  it  should  arm  the 


MESSAGE  TO  THE  CONGRESS      193 

Federal  government  with  power  to  deal  in  its 
criminal  courts  with  those  persons  who  by  vio 
lent  methods  would  abrogate  our  time-tested 
institutions. 

With  the  free  expression  of  opinion  and  with 
the  advocacy  of  orderly  political  change,  how- 
lever  fundamental,  there  must  be  no  inter 
ference,  but  toward  passion  and  malevolence 
;  tending  to  incite  crime  and  insurrection  under 
guise  of  political  evolution  there  should  be  no 
leniency.  Legislation  to  this  end  has  been 
recommended  by  the  Attorney-General  and 
should  be  enacted. 

In  this  direct  connection  I  wrould  call  your 
attention  to  my  recommendations  on  August 
8th,  pointing  out  legislative  measures  which 
would  be  effective  in  controlling  and  bringing 
down  the  present  cost  of  living,  which  con 
tributes  so  largely  to  this  unrest.  On  only  one 
of  these  recommendations  has  the  Congress 
acted.  If  the  government's  campaign  is  to  be 
effective  it  is  necessary  that  the  other  steps 
suggested  should  be  acted  on  at  once. 

I  renew  and  strongly  urge  the  necessity  of 
the  extension  of  the  present  Food  Control  Act 
as  to  the  period  of  time  in  which  it  shall  remain 
in  operation.  The  Attorney-General  has  sub 
mitted  a  bill  providing  for  an  extension  of  this 
act  for  a  period  of  six  months.  As  it  now 
stands  it  is  limited  in  operation  to  the  period 
of  the  war  and  becomes  inoperative  upon  the 


194       THE  HOPE  OF  THE  WORLD 

formal  proclamation  of  peace.  It  is  impera 
tive  that  it  should  be  extended  at  once.  The 
Department  of  Justice  has  built  up  extensive 
machinery  for  the  purpose  of  enforcing  its  pro 
visions;  all  of  which  must  be  abandoned  upon 
the  conclusion  of  peace  unless  the  provisions 
of  this  act  are  extended. 

During  this  period  the  Congress  will  have 
an  opportunity  to  make  similar,  permanent 
provisions  and  regulations  with  regard  to  all 
goods  destined  for  interstate  commerce,  and  to 
exclude  them  from  interstate  shipment  if  the 
requirements  of  the  law  are  not  complied  with. 
Some  such  regulation  is  imperatively  neces 
sary.  The  abuses  that  have  grown  up  in  the 
manipulation  of  prices  by  the  withholding  of 
foodstuffs  and  other  necessaries  of  life  cannot 
otherwise  be  effectively  prevented.  There  can 
be  no  doubt  of  either  the  necessity  or  the 
legitimacy  of  such  measures. 

As  I  pointed  out  in  my  last  message,  pub 
licity  can  accomplish  a  great  deal  in  this  cam 
paign.  The  aims  of  the  government  must  be 
clearly  brought  to  the  attention  of  the  con 
suming  public,  civic  organizations,  and  state 
officials  who  are  in  a  position  to  lend  their 
assistance  to  our  efforts. 

You  have  made  available  funds  with  which 
to  carry  on  this  campaign,  but  there  is  no  pro 
vision  in  the  law  authorizing  their  expenditure 
for  the  purpose  of  making  the  public  fully  in- 


MESSAGE  TO  THE  CONGRESS      195 

formed  about  the  efforts  of  the  government. 
Specific  recommendation  has  been  made  by 
the  Attorney-General  in  this  regard.  I  would 
strongly  urge  upon  you  its  immediate  adop 
tion,  as  it  constitutes  one  of  the  preliminary 
steps  to  this  campaign. 

I  also  renew  my  recommendation  that  the 
Congress  pass  a  law  regulating  cold  storage  as 
it  is  regulated,  for  example,  by  the  laws  of  the 
state  of  New  Jersey,  which  limit  the  time  dur 
ing  which  goods  may  be  kept  in  storage,  pre 
scribe  the  method  of  disposing  of  them  if  kept 
beyond  the  permitted  period,  and  require  that 
goods  released  from  storage  shall  in  all  cases 
bear  the  date  of  their  receipt. 

It  would  materially  add  to  the  serviceability 
of  the  law,  for  the  purpose  we  now  have  in 
view,  if  it  were  also  prescribed  that  all  goods 
released  from  storage  for  interstate  shipment 
should  have  plainly  marked  upon  each  package 
the  selling  or  market  price  at  which  they  went 
into  storage.  By  this  means  the  purchaser 
would  always  be  able  to  learn  what  profits 
stood  between  him  and  the  producer  or  the 
wholesale  dealer. 

I  would  also  renew  my  recommendation 
that  all  goods  destined  for  interstate  com 
merce  should  in  every  case,  where  their  form 
or  package  makes  it  possible,  be  plainly 
marked  with  the  price  at  which  they  left  the 
hands  of  the  producer. 

14 


196       THE  HOPE  OF  THE  WORLD 

We  should  formulate  a  law  requiring  a 
Federal  license  of  all  corporations  engaged  in 
interstate  commerce  and  embodying  in  the  li 
cense,  or  in  the  conditions  under  which  it  is  to 
be  issued,  specific  regulations  designed  to  se 
cure  competitive  selling  and  prevent  uncon 
scionable  profits  in  the  method  of  marketing. 
Such  a  law  would  afford  a  welcome  oppor 
tunity  to  effect  other  much  needed  reforms  in 
the  business  of  interstate  shipment  and  in  the 
methods  of  corporations  which  are  engaged  in 
it;  but  for  the  moment  I  confine  my  recom 
mendations  to  the  object  immediately  in 
hand,  which  is  to  lower  the  cost  of  living. 

No  one  who  has  observed  the  march  of 
events  in  the  last  year  can  fail  to  note  the  ab 
solute  need  of  a  definite  program  to  bring 
about  an  improvement  in  the  conditions  of 
labor.  There  can  be  no  settled  conditions 
leading  to  increased  production  and  a  reduc 
tion  in  the  cost  of  living  if  labor  and  capital 
are  to  be  antagonists  instead  of  partners. 

Sound  thinking  and  an  honest  desire  to 
serve  the  interests  of  the  whole  nation,  as 
distinguished  from  the  interests  of  a  class,  must 
be  applied  to  the  solution  of  this  great  and 
pressing  problem.  The  failure  of  other  na 
tions  to  consider  this  matter  in  a  vigorous  way 
has  produced  bitterness  and  jealousies  and 
antagonisms,  the  food  of  radicalism.  The 
only  way  to  keep  men  from  agitating  against 


MESSAGE  TO  THE  CONGRESS      197 

grievances  is  to  remove  the  grievances.  An 
unwillingness  even  to  discuss  these  matters 
produces  only  dissatisfaction  and  gives  com 
fort  to  the  extreme  elements  in  our  country 
which  endeavor  to  stir  up  disturbances  in 
order  to  provoke  governments  to  embark  upon 
a  course  of  retaliation  and  repression. 

The  seed  of  revolution  is  repression.  The 
remedy  for  these  things  must  not  be  negative 
in  character.  It  must  be  constructive.  It 
must  comprehend  the  general  interest.  The 
real  antidote  for  the  unrest  which  manifests 
itself  is  not  suppression,  but  a  deep  considera 
tion  of  the  wrongs  that  beset  our  national  life 
and  the  application  of  a  remedy. 

Congress  has  already  shown  its  willingness 
to  deal  with  these  industrial  wrongs  by  estab 
lishing  the  eight-hour  day  as  the  standard  in 
every  field  of  labor.  It  has  sought  to  find  a 
way  to  prevent  child  labor.  It  has  served  the 
whole  country  by  leading  the  way  in  develop 
ing  the  means  of  preserving  and  safeguarding 
lives  and  health  in  dangerous  industries.  It 
must  now  help  in  the  difficult  task  of  finding  a 
method  that  will  bring  about  a  genuine  demo 
cratization  of  industry,  based  on  the  full  recog 
nition  of  the  right  of  those  who  work,  in  what 
ever  rank,  to  participate  in  some  organic  way 
in  every  decision  which  directly  affects  their 
wTelfa,re. 

It  is  with  this  purpose  in  mind  that  I  called 


198       THE  HOPE  OF  THE  WORLD 

a  conference  to  meet  in  Washington  on  De 
cember  ist  to  consider  these  problems  in  all 
their  broad  aspects,  with  the  idea  of  bringing 
about  a  better  understanding  between  these 
two  interests. 

The  great  unrest  throughout  the  world,  out 
of  which  has  emerged  a  demand  for  an  im 
mediate  consideration  of  the  difficulties  be 
tween  capital  and  labor,  bids  us  put  our  own 
house  in  order.  Frankly  there  can  be  no  per 
manent  and  lasting  settlements  between  cap 
ital  and  labor  which  do  not  recognize  the 
fundamental  concepts  for  which  labor  has  been 
struggling  through  the  years. 

The  whole  world  gave  its  recognition  and 
indorsement  to  these  fundamental  purposes  in 
the  League  of  Nations.  The  statesmen  gath 
ered  at  Versailles  recognized  the  fact  that 
world  stability  could  not  be  had  by  reverting 
to  industrial  standards  and  conditions  against 
which  the  average  workman  of  the  world  had 
revolted.  It  is,  therefore,  the  task  of  the 
statesmen  of  this  new  day  of  change  and 
readjustment  to  recognize  world  conditions 
and  to  seek  to  bring  about,  through  legisla 
tion,  conditions  that  will  mean  the  ending  of 
age-long  antagonisms  between  capital  and 
labor  and  that  will  hopefully  lead  to  the  build 
ing  up  of  a  comradeship  which  will  result  not 
only  in  greater  contentment  among  the  mass 
of  workmen,  but  also  bring  about  a  greater 


MESSAGE  TO  THE  CONGRESS      199 

production  and  a  greater  prosperity  to  business 
itself. 

To  analyze  the  particulars  in  the  demands 
of  labor  is  to  admit  the  justice  of  their  com 
plaint  in  many  matters  that  lie  at  their  basis. 
The  workman  demands  an  adequate  wage, 
sufficient  to  permit  him  to  live  in  comfort, 
unhampered  by  the  fear  of  poverty  and  want 
in  his  old  age.  He  demands  the  right  to  live 
and  the  right  to  work  amid  sanitary  surround 
ings,  both  in  home  and  workshop,  surroundings 
that  develop  and  do  not  retard  his  own  health 
and  well-being;  and  the  right  to  provide  for 
his  children's  wants  in  the  matter  of  health 
and  education.  In  other  words,  it  is  his  de 
sire  to  make  the  conditions  of  his  life  and  the 
lives  of  those  dear  to  him  tolerable  and  easy 
to  bear. 

The  establishment  of  the  principles  regard 
ing  labor  laid  down  in  the  covenant  of  the 
League  of  Nations  offers  us  the  way  to  indus 
trial  peace  and  conciliation.  No  other  road 
lies  open  to  us.  Not  to  pursue  this  one  is 
longer  to  invite  enmities,  bitterness,  and  an 
tagonisms  which  in  the  end  only  lead  to 
industrial  and  social  disaster. 

The  unwilling  workman  is  not  a  profitable 
servant.  An  employee  whose  industrial  life  is 
hedged  about  by  hard  and  unjust  conditions, 
which  he  did  not  create  and  over  which  he  had 
no  control,  lacks  that  fine  spirit  of  enthusiasm 


200       THE  HOPE  OF  THE  WORLD 

and  volunteer  effort  which  are  the  necessary 
ingredients  of  a  great  producing  entity. 

Let  us  be  frank  about  this  solemn  matter. 
The  evidences  of  worldwide  unrest  which 
manifest  themselves  in  violence  throughout 
the  world  bid  us  pause  and  consider  the  means 
to  be  found  to  stop  the  spread  of  this  con 
tagious  thing  before  it  saps  the  very  vitality 
of  the  nation  itself.  Do  we  gain  strength  by 
withholding  the  remedy?  Or  is  it  not  the 
business  of  statesmen  to  treat  these  manifesta 
tions  of  unrest  which  meet  us  on  every  hand  as 
evidences  of  an  economic  disorder  and  to  apply 
constructive  remedies  wherever  necessary, 
being  sure  that  in  the  application  of  the 
remedy  we  touch  not  the  vital  tissues  of  our 
industrial  and  economic  life.  There  can  be  no 
recession  of  the  tide  of  unrest  until  construc 
tive  instrumentalities  are  set  up  to  stem  that 
tide. 

Governments  must  recognize  the  right  of 
men  collectively  to  bargain  for  humane  ob 
jects  that  have  at  their  base  the  mutual  pro 
tection  and  welfare  of  those  engaged  in  all 
industries.  Labor  must  not  be  longer  treated 
as  a  commodity.  It  must  be  regarded  as  the 
activity  of  human  beings,  possessed  of  deep 
yearnings  and  desires. 

The  business  man  gives  his  best  thought  to 
the  repair  and  replenishment  of  his  ma- 
jchinery,  so  that  its  usefulness  will  not  be  im- 


MESSAGE  TO  THE  CONGRESS      201 

paired  and  its  power  to  produce  may  always 
be  at  its  height  and  kept  in  full  vigor  and  mo 
tion.  No  less  regard  ought  to  be  paid  to  the 
human  machine,  which,  after  all,  propels  the 
machinery  of  the  world  and  is  the  great  dy 
namic  force  that  lies  back  of  all  industry 
and  progress. 

Return  to  the  old  standards  of  wage  and 
industry  in  employment  is  unthinkable. 
The  terrible  tragedy  of  war  which  has  just 
ended  and  which  has  brought  the  world  to  the 
verge  of  chaos  and  disaster  would  be  in  vain 
if  there  should  ensue  a  return  to  the  conditions 
of  the  past. 

Europe  itself,  whence  has  come  the  unrest 
which  now  holds  the  world  at  bay,  is  an  ex 
ample  of  standpatism  in  these  vital  human 
matters  which  America  might  well  accept  as 
an  example,  not  to  be  followed,  but  studiously 
to  be  avoided.  Europe  made  labor  the  differ 
ential,  and  the  price  of  it  all  is  enmity  and 
antagonism  and  prostrated  industry.  The 
right  of  labor  to  live  in  peace  and  comfort  must 
be  recognized  by  governments,  and  America 
should  be  the  first  to  lay  the  foundation 
stones  upon  which  industrial  peace  shall  be 
built. 

Labor  not  only  is  entitled  to  an  adequate 
wage,  but  capital  should  receive  a  reasonable 
return  upon  its  investment  and  is  entitled  to 
protection  at  the  hands  of  the  government  in 


202       THE  HOPE  OF  THE  WORLD 

every  emergency.  No  government  worthy 
of  the  name  can  "play"  the  elements  against 
each  other,  for  there  is  a  mutuality  of  interest 
between  them  which  the  government  must 
seek  to  express  and  to  safeguard  at  all  cost. 

The  right  of  individuals  to  strike  is  inviolate 
and  ought  not  to  be  interfered  with  by  any 
process  of  government,  but  there  is  a  predomi 
nant  right  and  that  is  the  right  of  the  govern 
ment  to  protect  all  of  its  people  and  to  assert 
its  power  and  majesty  against  the  challenge 
of  any  class.  The  government,  when  it  asserts 
that  right,  seeks  not  to  antagonize  a  class,  but 
simply  to  defend  the  right  of  the  whole  people 
as  against  the  irreparable  harm  and  injury  that 
might  be  done  by  the  attempt  by  any  class  to 
usurp  a  power  that  only  government  itself  has 
a  right  to  exercise  as  a  protection  to  all. 

In  the  matter  of  international  disputes 
which  have  led  to  war,  statesmen  have  sought 
to  set  up  as  a  remedy  arbitration  for  war. 
Does  this  not  point  the  way  for  the  settlement 
of  industrial  disputes  by  the  establishment  of 
a  tribunal,  fair  and  just  alike  to  all,  which  will 
settle  industrial  disputes  which  in  the  past 
have  led  to  war  and  disaster? 

America,  witnessing  the  evil  consequences 
which  have  followed  out  of  such  disputes  be 
tween  the  contending  forces,  must  not  admit 
itself  impotent  to  deal  with  these  matters  by 
means  of  peaceful  processes.  Surely  there 


MESSAGE  TO  THE  CONGRESS      203 

must  be  some  method  of  bringing  together  in  a 
council  of  peace  and  amity  these  two  great 
interests,  out  of  which  will  come  a  happier  day 
of  peace  and  co-operation,  a  day  that  will  make 
for  more  comfort  and  happiness  in  living  and 
a  more  tolerable  condition  among  all  classes  of 
men.  Certainly  human  intelligence  can  devise 
some  acceptable  tribunal  for  adjusting  the 
differences  between  capital  and  labor. 

This  is  the  hour  of  test  and  trial  for  America. 
By  her  prowess  and  strength,  and  the  indomi 
table  courage  of  her  soldiers,  she  demonstrated 
her  power  to  vindicate  on  foreign  battlefields 
her  conception  of  liberty  and  justice.  Let  not 
her  influence  as  a  mediator  between  capital  and 
labor  be  weakened  and  her  own  failure  to  settle 
matters  of  purely  domestic  concern  be  pro 
claimed  to  the  world. 

There  are  those  in  this  country  who  threaten 
direct  action  to  force  their  will  upon  a  ma 
jority.  Russia  to-day,  with  its  blood  and 
terror,  is  a  painful  object-lesson  of  the  power 
of  minorities.  It  makes  little  difference  what 
minority  it  is ;  whether  capital  or  labor,  or  any 
other  class;  no  sort  of  privilege  will  ever  be 
permitted  to  dominate  this  country. 

We  are  a  partnership  or  nothing  that  is 
worth  while.  We  are  a  democracy,  where  the 
majority  are  the  masters,  or  all  the  hopes  and 
purposes  of  the  men  who  founded  this  govern 
ment  have  been  defeated  and  forgotten. 


204       THE  HOPE  OF  THE  WORLD 

In  America  there  is  but  one  way  by  which 
great  reforms  can  be  accomplished  and  the 
relief  sought  by  classes  obtained,  and  that  is 
through  the  orderly  processes  of  representative 
government.  Those  who  would  propose  any 
other  method  of  reform  are  enemies  of  this 
country.  America  will  not  be  daunted  by 
threats  nor  lose  her  composure  or  calmness  in 
these  distressing  times.  We  can  afford,  in  the 
midst  of  this  day  of  passion  and  unrest,  to  be 
self-contained  and  sure. 

The  instrument  of  all  reform  in  America  is 
the  straight  road  of  justice  to  all  classes  and 
conditions  of  men.  Men  have  but  to  follow 
this  road  to  realize  the  full  fruition  of  their  ob 
jects  and  purposes.  Let  those  beware  who 
would  take  the  shorter  road  of  disorder  and 
revolution.  The  right  road  is  the  road  of 
justice  and  orderly  process. 


XXIX 

A   FAIR   DEAL  TO  THE   MINERS 
(INDIANAPOLIS,  December  9,  1919) 

The  text  of  President  Wilson's  proposal  to  the 
miners  was  made  public  following  presentation 
to  the  Conference: 

I  HAVE  watched  with  deep  concern  the  de 
velopments  in  the  bituminous  coal  strike  and 
am  convinced  there  is  much  confusion  in  tne 
minds  of  the  people  generally  and  possibly  of 
both  parties  to  this  unfortunate  controversy 
as  to  the  attitude  and  purposes  of  the  govern 
ment  in  its  handling  of  the  situation. 

The  mine  owners  offered  a  wage  increase  of 
20  per  cent.,  conditioned,  however,  upon  the 
price  of  coal  being  raised  to  an  amount  suffi 
cient  to  cover  this  proposed  increase  of  wages, 
which  would  have  added  at  least  $150,000,000 
to  the  annual  coal  bill  of  the  people.  The 
Fuel  Administrator,  in  the  light  of  present  in 
formation,  has  taken  the  position,  and  I  think 
with  entire  justification,  that  the  public  is  now 
paying  as  high  prices  for  coal  as  it  ought  to  be 


206       THE  HOPE  OF  THE  WORLD 

requested  to  pay,  and  that  any  wage  increase 
made  at  this  time  ought  to  come  out  of  the 
profits  of  the  coal  operators. 

In  reaching  this  conclusion,  the  Fuel  Ad 
ministrator  expressed  the  personal  opinion 
that  the  i4-per-cent.  increase  in  all  mine  wages 
is  reasonable  because  it  would  equalize  the 
miners'  wages  on  the  average  with  the  cost  of 
living,  but  he  made  it  perfectly  clear  that  the 
operators  and  the  miners  are  at  liberty  to  agree 
upon  a  large  increase  provided  the  operators 
will  pay  it  out  of  their  profits  so  that  the  price 
of  coal  would  remain  the  same. 

The  Secretary  of  Labor,  in  an  effort  at  con 
ciliation  between  the  parties,  expressed  his 
personal  opinion  in  favor  of  a  larger  increase. 
His  effort  at  conciliation  failed,  however,  be 
cause  the  coal  operators  were  unwilling  to  pay 
the  scale  he  proposed  unless  the  government 
would  advance  the  price  of  coal  to  the  public, 
and  this  the  government  was  unwilling  to  do. 

The  Fuel  Administrator  had  also  suggested 
that  a  tribunal  be  created  in  which  the  miners 
and  operators  would  be  equally  represented  to 
consider  further  questions  of  wages  and  work 
ing  conditions,  as  well  as  profits  of  operators 
and  proper  prices  for  coal.  I  shall,  of  course, 
be  glad  to  aid  in  the  formation  of  such  a 
tribunal. 

I  understand  the  operators  have  generally 
agreed  to  absorb  an  increase  of  14  per  cent,  in 


A  FAIR  DEAL  TO  THE  MINERS      207 

wages,  so  that  the  public  would  pay  not  to 
exceed  the  present  price  fixed  by  the  Fuel  Ad 
ministrator,  and  thus  a  way  is  opened  to  secure 
the  coal  of  which  the  people  stand  in  need,  if 
the  miners  will  resume  work  on  these  terms 
pending  a  thorough  investigation  by  an  im 
partial  commission  which  may  readjust  both 
wages  and  prices. 

By  the  acceptance  of  such  a  plan,  the  miners 
are  assured  immediate  steady  employment  at 
a  substantial  increase  in  wages  and  are  further 
assured  prompt  investigation  and  action  upon 
questions  which  are  not  now  settled  to  their 
satisfaction.  I  must  believe  that  with  a 
clear  understanding  of  these  points  they  will 
promptly  return  to  work.  If,  nevertheless, 
they  persist  in  remaining  on  strike  they  will 
put  themselves  in  an  attitude  of  striking  in 
order  to  force  the  government  to  increase  the 
price  of  coal  to  the  public,  so  as  to  give  a  still 
further  increase  in  wages  at  this  time  rather 
than  allow  the  question  of  a  further  increase  in 
wages  to  be  dealt  with  in  an  orderly  manner 
by  a  fairly  constituted  tribunal  representing 
all  parties  interested. 

No  group  of  our  people  can  justify  such  a 
position,  and  the  miners  owe  it  to  themselves, 
their  families,  their  fellow-workmen  in  other 
industries,  and  to  their  country  to  return  to 
work. 

Immediately  upon  a  general  resumption  of 


2o8       THE  HOPE  OF  "THE  WORLD 

mining  I  shall  be  glad  to  aid  in  the  prompt 
formation  of  such  a  tribunal  as  I  have  indi 
cated  to  make  further  inquiries  into  this  whole 
matter  and  to  review  not  only  the  reasonable 
ness  of  the  wages  at  which  the  miners  start  to 
work,  but  also  the  reasonableness  of  the  gov 
ernment  prices  for  coal.  Such  a  tribunal 
should  within  sixty  days  make  its  report  which 
could  be  used  as  a  basis  for  negotiation  for  a 
wage  agreement.  I  must  make  it  clear,  how 
ever,  that  the  government  cannot  give  its  aid 
to  any  such  further  investigation  until  there  is 
a  general  resumption  of  work. 

I  ask  every  individual  miner  to  give  his 
personal  thought  to  what  I  say.  I  hope  he 
understands  fully  that  he  will  be  hurting  his 
own  interest  a'nd  the  interest  of  his  family  and 
will  be  throwing  countless  other  laboring 
men  out  of  employment  if  he  shall  continue 
the  present  strike,  and,  further,  that  he  will 
create  an  unnecessary  and  unfortunate  preju 
dice  against  organized  labor  which  will  be 
injurious  to  the  best  interests  of  workingmen 
everywhere. 


THE    END 


•>AY  USE 

JRN  ',?-      ROM  WHICH  BORROWED 

LOAN  DEPT. 

This  book  is  due  on  the  last  date  stamped  below, 
or  on  the  date  to  which  renewed.  Renewals  only: 
_. Tel.  No.  642-3405 


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